The man charged with planting pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is trying a sweeping defense: he's protected by presidential pardon. Attorneys for Brian Cole Jr.—charged with transporting and using explosives—argue in a new court filing that their client falls under President Trump's broad January 2025 clemency order, which granted "a full, complete and unconditional pardon" to people convicted of crimes tied to events "at or near" the Capitol on Jan. 6, per Politico. Cole hasn't been convicted, but his lawyers say the language plainly shields him because his alleged conduct was "inextricably tethered" to that day.
A White House official, speaking anonymously, said the pardon "clearly does not cover this scenario." For one thing, the bombs were allegedly placed on Jan. 5. But Cole's attorneys argue that some of those convicted and granted clemency were, like him, accused of transporting weapons into Washington ahead of Jan. 6, per NBC News. Lawyers add Cole, like other Jan. 6 defendants, was "motivated by grievances about the 2020 presidential election" and is alleged to have directed his ire at Capitol Hill in time with the Jan. 6 certification of the electoral college vote. The administration is expected to fight the motion, even as it has pushed an expansive reading of Trump's Jan. 6 clemency order in other cases.