Left: Brian Cole Jr. (Department of Justice). Center: Surveillance footage allegedly shows Brian Cole Jr. walking around Washington, D.C., while placing pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC headquarters (DOJ). Right: President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A Virginia man who allegedly confessed to planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., just one day before the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack believes he should be covered by President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 pardon proclamation — a claim the DOJ slams as "unavailing" and devoid of common sense.
"Even if the court somehow found, notwithstanding its text, that the proclamation could apply to this case, the Department of Justice's contrary position is supported by a consistent, reasonable interpretation taken by the Executive Branch agency expressly charged with administering the proclamation," the DOJ blasts in a Friday memorandum filed in opposition of a March motion from pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr., who wants to dismiss his case under the terms of Trump's January 2025 pardon proclamation.
Cole's legal team argues that the charges against him are "inextricably and demonstrably tethered" to the events of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and should be dismissed. Federal prosecutors lay out multiple reasons in their opposition filing for why they say Cole's lawyers are wrong, including the wording of Trump's proclamation — which states that the Jan. 6 pardons only apply to "offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021" — and Cole's own alleged confession.
"Under its plain terms, the proclamation applied only to those convicted or under a pending indictment for the offenses described," the DOJ says. "While the events of January 6 provide some relevant factual context to this prosecution, the defendant's crimes on January 5 were not 'related to' the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6 under the terms of the proclamation."
Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia earlier this month with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property. He was also charged with attempted malicious destruction by means of fire and explosive materials.
According to federal prosecutors, Cole drove his Nissan Sentra to Washington, D.C., by himself on Jan. 5, 2021, to plant at least two pipe bombs downtown "in the immediate vicinity" of the RNC and DNC headquarters. The improvised explosive devices had 60-minute timers, but failed to detonate. Cole allegedly said he planted them at night "because he did not want to kill people," according to the DOJ.
Federal prosecutors say Cole learned how to make the bombs by playing video games. He allegedly admitted that he is a Trump supporter but does not like "either party" and wanted to go after the RNC and DNC because he was sick of election deniers being called "conspiracy theorists" and other "bad" things.
"The defendant felt that 'the people up top,' including 'people on both sides, public figures,' should not 'ignore people's grievances' or call them 'conspiracy theorists,' 'bad people,' 'Nazis,' or 'fascists," according to a DOJ memorandum that was filed in support of pretrial detention.
"Instead, 'if people feel that their votes are like just being thrown away, then . . . at the very least someone should address it,'" Cole allegedly told federal investigators. "He explained that 'something just snapped' after 'watching everything, just everything getting worse.'"
The DOJ says Cole's pipe bombs were not discovered until approximately 1 p.m. on Jan. 6. "The FBI explosives examiner assessed that the pipe bombs were constructed using all the components necessary to explode and that they were viable explosive devices," prosecutors say in the pretrial detention filing.
In their Friday memorandum, the DOJ says Cole's offenses were "separate from the events of Jan. 6" as he planted explosive devices in publicly accessible locations near the RNC and DNC headquarters "under cover of darkness" on Jan. 5. "The devices did not explode as intended, they remained in plain view when daylight arrived the next day," the DOJ says. "In the early afternoon on January 6, the bombs were discovered by a passerby and law enforcement in the area of the RNC and DNC. The events at the United States Capitol that day were only starting to unfold."
Cole initially claimed he traveled to D.C. to show his support for Trump in the Jan. 6 protests and riots before allegedly admitting he went to plant the bombs ahead of the demonstrations and Capitol attack. "I didn't agree with what people were doing, like just telling half the country that they – that their [votes] – that they just need to ignore it," Cole allegedly told federal investigators. "In the defendant's view, if people 'feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being – you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top."
Prosecutors note how Cole told federal agents that "something just snapped" in him after "watching everything, just everything getting worse." They bring up how Cole allegedly told agents he wanted to do something "to the parties" because "they were in charge" and he did not like either party.
Given the focus on the political parties and not Congress, prosecutors say "it is hardly surprising" that Cole chose to target the headquarters of the DNC and RNC and not the Capitol, per the opposition filing. "Moreover, the defendant set the bombs to explode 60 minutes after placing them — i.e., on the night of Jan. 5, 2021," the DOJ points out.
"It was only happenstance that the devices, which did not explode as intended, sat idle until the next afternoon when the events of Jan. 6 unfolded," prosecutors conclude. "And, although the defendant was clearly motivated by then-recent events, the evidence shows that his interest in explosives and bombmaking (specifically, pipe bombs) dated back nearly a decade. In short, the defendant was upset about an issue that also motivated many who were convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, but he chose a different target, on a different day, and acted through different means than those to whom the proclamation was directed."
Comments