A Virginia man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, is arguing that President Donald Trump’s sweeping clemency for Jan. 6 offenders should apply to him too, in what could become a major test of how broadly courts interpret “Jan. 6-related” cases.
Defense attorney Mario Williams, representing Brian Cole Jr., says the charges “fall squarely” within Trump’s pardon language, which he says covers offenses “related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” according to Reuters and local outlet FOX 5 DC.
Cole, a Woodbridge, Virginia, resident, has pleaded not guilty to two federal felony counts —interstate transportation of explosive devices and malicious attempt to use explosive devices — after prosecutors alleged the devices were placed near the two party headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, and discovered the next day, according to coverage by the Associated Press and Reuters.
Federal authorities have described the pipe bombs as functioning explosive devices that were rendered safe by law enforcement, and investigators have treated the incident as part of the volatile run-up to the certification protests and unrest at the Capitol, according to the Associated Press and ABC News reporting on the broader Jan. 6 security response.
The legal argument now hinges on timing and geography: the alleged bombs were outside party offices in Washington, D.C., not inside the Capitol, but they were discovered on Jan. 6 and within the broader perimeter of the day’s events, and Williams is telling the court that is enough to trigger the plain meaning of Trump’s clemency language, as reported by Reuters and FOX 5 DC.
Reuters reported that a federal judge ordered Cole held without bail, with prosecutors arguing he poses a danger to the community, while the defense has disputed that characterization and is pressing for the pardon’s protections to be extended to his case.
Prosecutors have claimed Cole initially denied involvement and later admitted a role after investigators confronted him with surveillance evidence, while the defense has pushed back on the government’s narrative and is framing the case as precisely the kind of “Jan. 6-related” prosecution the Trump clemency was meant to address, according to reporting by Reuters and the Associated Press.
The stakes go beyond one defendant because the DNC and RNC pipe bomb episode was among the most alarming threats surrounding Jan. 6 and remained a focal point of federal investigation for years, a point emphasized in Associated Press coverage of the case and in Reuters’ reporting on the arrest and court filings.
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