On March 16, 2026, defense attorneys for Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, the man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the January 6 Capitol riot, filed a 23-page motion arguing that Trump's January 6 pardon should apply to their client.
Cole was arrested on December 4, 2025, after a nearly five-year FBI investigation. He is charged with interstate transportation of an explosive device and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say he planted the bombs on the night of January 5, 2021. The devices did not explode, though the FBI has said they were viable, and they were discovered the next day as the mob descended on the Capitol. Prosecutors say Cole confessed after his arrest, telling agents that “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse.” His lawyers have said they will challenge whether that interview was a lawful confession.
Cole's attorneys argued his alleged conduct is “so inextricably and demonstrably tethered to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, that he must be pardoned.” Trump's proclamation covers offenses “related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” The defense rested on the government's own account: that the conduct was “motivated by grievances about the 2020 presidential election,” was directed at the headquarters of the two national parties on Capitol Hill, and was timed “on the eve of the January 6 certification of the electoral college vote.” “The Pardon—like it or not—applies to Mr. Cole,” they wrote, while maintaining his innocence.
A White House official told Politico and The Hill the pardon “clearly does not cover this scenario,” because the bombs were placed on January 5. Prosecutors have said Cole denied to investigators that his actions were directed at Congress or the certification. Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner told CBS News it is possible the pardon covers Cole's alleged conduct, calling that an “unintended consequence of Donald Trump's unrelenting attack upon the rule of law.” The pardons, issued hours after Trump returned to office, covered around 1,500 riot defendants, and the administration has itself argued in other cases for reading them broadly. The motion tests how far a pardon written that broadly can reach.
Correction (October 14, 2026): The number of January 6 defendants covered by the pardons was changed from “1,500+” to “around 1,500,” matching the source. The Epner quote in the key facts was restored to his exact wording. Editorial language calling the pardon unprecedented and saying an accused bomber can “plausibly” claim coverage was cut; whether the pardon applies is unresolved. The title now calls Cole the accused pipe bomber; he has pleaded not guilty.