{"id":1436,"date":"2026-07-06T21:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:53:02","slug":"trumps-pardons-for-jan-6-rioters-dont-apply-to-dc-pipe-bomb-suspect-judge-rules-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=1436","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s pardons for Jan. 6 rioters don\u2019t apply to DC pipe bomb suspect, judge rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol, are seen at dawn from an overlook in Arlington, Va., as Washington prepares for sweltering temperatures, Friday, July 3, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/small><\/p>\n

2026-07-06T21:23:18Z<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s mass pardons for supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol don\u2019t apply to a Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs<\/a><\/span> near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, a federal judge ruled<\/a><\/span> Monday.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali refused to dismiss the case<\/a><\/span> against Brian J. Cole Jr., concluding that Trump\u2019s blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters explicitly applied only to people who were convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. Cole hadn\u2019t been charged, let alone convicted, when Trump issued the pardons, Ali noted in his three-page order.<\/p>\n

On the first day of his second term in the White House, Trump erased the largest criminal investigation in Justice Department history when he pardoned, commuted the prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the Jan. 6 attack.<\/p>\n

Cole was arrested nearly a year after Trump\u2019s sweeping act of clemency. He is accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the night before the riot. The devices didn\u2019t detonate before law enforcement officers discovered them on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have said that Cole gave a confession after his arrest, telling FBI agents that he felt \u201cbewildered\u201d by conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election and \u201csomething just snapped.\u201d Investigators also used phone records and other evidence to identify him as a suspect.<\/p>\n

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