Attorney General Pam Bondi (3rd-R), accompanied by (L-R) US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, ATF Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, speaks during a news conference on the arrest of a suspect in the January 6 pipe bomb case at the Department of Justice on December 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. – Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The Virginia man accused of planting two pipe bombs in Washington, DC, the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss his case, arguing that President Donald Trump’s expansive pardon of January 6 rioters applies to him.
Brian Cole Jr.’s alleged conduct “is so inextricably and demonstrably tethered to the ‘events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021’” that Trump’s sweeping clemency prevents him from being prosecuted, his lawyers argued in a filing.
“The President’s Pardon unequivocally applies to Mr. Cole, because in no manner is Mr. Cole’s alleged conduct wholly independent of events at the Capitol on January 6,” the attorneys said.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Politico was first to report on the motion to dismiss.
On his first day in office last year, Trump issued a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to nearly every person who was convicted of attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, marking the end of a sweeping four-year Justice Department probe.
Prosecutors say that Cole placed bombs near the Republican and Democratic national committees’ headquarters on the night of January 5, 2021, and note that the discovery of the bombs diverted law enforcement from the violence at the Capitol the next day.
The FBI arrested Cole in December at his home, where he lived with his parents. He pleaded not guilty in January to federal charges of transporting and attempting to use explosives.
The FBI, which conducted a yearslong investigation, alleges that Cole compiled bomb-making supplies for months before leaving the viable explosive devices outside of the political offices.
Cole’s legal team previously argued the alleged devices could never have exploded and say their client has been entirely peaceful and follows a strict routine due to his diagnoses, which include autism. Their Monday filing notes that Cole disputes the government’s allegations and maintains his innocence.
During interviews with the FBI, Cole told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, CNN previously reported. Investigators also say they linked Cole’s phone data to cell towers around Washington, DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The calls and texts he made matched security footage time stamps that show how the bomber moved the evening he planted the devices, they said.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Dugald McConnell contributed to this report.
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