Judge Rejects Trump’s Attempt to Shield Right-Wing Extremists: Pardons Don’t Cover Alleged D.C. Pipe Bomber
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A federal judge has refused to let Brian Cole Jr. evade justice, ruling that Trump’s selective Jan. 6 pardons only protected those already convicted for the Capitol attack, not others involved in right-wing violence.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali has taken a stand against the impunity often granted to far-right actors, denying a motion by Brian Cole Jr.’s attorneys to dismiss his criminal case. The judge concluded that former President Donald Trump’s controversial pardons for Jan. 6 rioters were “expressly limited” to those already convicted of offenses tied to the Capitol breach, rather than extending blanket immunity to all right-wing agitators.
Cole’s legal team attempted to blur the lines, arguing that his alleged act of planting pipe bombs outside both the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5 was part of the broader right-wing unrest fueling the Jan. 6 insurrection. They cited Cole’s own statements about traveling to Washington, D.C. for a demonstration rooted in Trump’s baseless election fraud claims, insisting that the pardon should shield him.
The Justice Department, defending the rule of law against the normalization of political violence, countered that Trump’s pardon was narrowly tailored and did not excuse acts like Cole’s. Judge Ali agreed, writing:
“Even assuming that the conduct Cole is charged with is ‘related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,’ the pardon is expressly limited to people who had been ‘convicted of offenses’ related to those events.”
Cole, who was indicted last year on charges including interstate transportation of explosives and malicious use of explosives, later faced additional terrorism and weapons-of-mass-destruction counts. He has pleaded not guilty, but this ruling ensures that those who threaten democracy with violence cannot hide behind the shield of partisan pardons.