Prosecutors Request Judge Deny Motion to Dismiss Case Against DC Pipe Bomb Suspect

The Department of Justice (DOJ) requested that a judge deny a motion to dismiss the case against a man accused of planting two pipe bombs in Washington on the night before protesters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Court documents filed on April 10 revealed that prosecutors pushed back on claims that the suspect, Brian J. Cole Jr., should have his case tossed out because he was preemptively pardoned under President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, proclamation.

Prosecutors argued that Trump’s pardons only gave relief to people who were “convicted of” or had a “pending indictment” for offenses that were related to the events at, or near, the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to legal documents reviewed by The Epoch Times.

“On January 20, 2025, the defendant belonged to neither category, and so the proclamation has no bearing on this case,” prosecutors wrote in Friday’s court filing.

“Moreover, the defendant’s January 5 offenses were not, as the proclamation required, ‘related to’ events at or near the United States Capitol ‘on January 6.'”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Cole’s legal team for comment.

A grand jury indictment filed in December 2025 charged Cole with Interstate Transportation of Explosives and Malicious Attempt to Use Explosives.

The indictment accused Cole of trying to “damage and destroy” the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and the headquarters of the Republican National Committee with explosive devices, often referred to as “pipe bombs.”

The bombs did not explode on Jan. 5 and sat idle until the next day when a passerby and law enforcement officers found the bombs, according to court documents. The FBI said the bombs “had all the necessary components to explode.”

The Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters are located just steps from each other in Washington.

Investigators claim Cole purchased the items in 2019 and 2020 to commit the crimes, but he remained on the streets for several years due to difficulties in identifying him.

Cole wasn’t identified and arrested until December 2025 after the FBI sorted through existing evidence and generated new leads that led to his arrest.

The suspect’s arrest came nearly a year after Trump issued a presidential proclamation that pardoned or commuted the sentences of those convicted of offenses related to the protest on January 6.