By Megan SaylesAFRO Employees Writermsayles@afro.com
A Virginia man charged with planting two pipe bombs outdoors of the Republican Nationwide Committee (RNC) and Democratic Nationwide Committee (DNC) headquarters in D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021 believes the forty seventh president’s mass pardon of Jan. 6 insurrectionists ought to apply to his case.
Attorneys for 30-year-old Brian J. Cole Jr. filed a movement to dismiss the case on March 16, arguing that Cole is roofed underneath the sweeping clemency issued by the president final yr. The federal case is being tried within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia.
“The Pardon—prefer it or not—applies to Mr. Cole, primarily based on the strange and plain that means of the Pardon’s language as utilized to the related information on this case,” wrote Cole’s attorneys, Mario B. Williams and John M. Shoreman, in courtroom paperwork.
On Jan. 20, 2025, the forty seventh president granted full, unconditional clemency to all people convicted of offenses associated to occasions “at or close to” the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He additionally commuted the sentences of 14 convicted people.
Although Cole positioned the explosives on the night of Jan. 5, his attorneys assert that his alleged conduct remains to be straight tied to the occasions of Jan. 6. They argue that the pardon’s language— overlaying offenses dedicated “at or close to” the Capitol— needs to be interpreted broadly to incorporate preparatory acts that had been meant to have an effect on or disrupt the next day’s proceedings.
In courtroom paperwork, the attorneys claimed the commuted sentence of Kenneth Harrelson, an Oath Keepers member, demonstrates “that authorities is losing time making an attempt to convict Mr. Cole.” They famous that Harrelson obtained clemency regardless of his function in transporting and staging firearms within the D.C. space between Jan. 1 and Jan. 5.
A White Home official informed the AFRO, that the president’s pardons “clearly” don’t lengthen to Cole’s case given the explosives had been positioned on Jan. 5. The official clarified that clemency was solely granted to occasions at or close to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In line with the Justice Division, the explosives had been found by regulation enforcement close to the RNC and DNC headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021—just some blocks away from the U.S. Capitol the place the 2020 presidential election outcomes had been being licensed that day. Neither gadget detonated, and U.S. Capitol Police had been in a position to safely disarm them.
Cole was arrested on Dec. 4, 2025 and charged with transporting the explosive gadgets and tried malicious destruction by the use of fireplace and explosive supplies.
Of their movement to dismiss, Cole’s attorneys additionally level to prosecutors’ description of his alleged motive, arguing it displays the political grievances that spurred the Jan. 6 crowd. They mentioned Cole informed investigators he traveled to D.C. to protest the 2020 election outcomes and expressed frustration with leaders in each events.
They additional argued that Cole— sometimes called the “Jan. 6 pipe bomber”—has been publicly linked to the occasions of that day, bolstering their declare that his case is roofed by the president’s clemency.
The forty seventh president’s blanket pardon eradicated authorized penalties for greater than 1,000 people whose offenses ranged from assaulting Capitol law enforcement officials, to destroying authorities property, to seditious conspiracy.
A decide has not but dominated on Cole’s movement, however the choice might decide how far the president’s clemency extends.
