DC Pipe Bomb Suspect Wants Presidential Pardon: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — The Woodbridge man accused of placing two pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington, D.C. wants the charges against him dismissed by presidential pardon, according to a report.

Brian Cole Jr., 30, was charged with interstate transportation of explosives and malicious attempt to use explosives after prosecutors said he placed homemade bombs that were discovered on Jan. 6, 2021, the afternoon that rioters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the certification of his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Cole has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On Monday, Cole's attorneys filed a court motion arguing the charges against him should be dismissed under Trump’s sweeping pardon of people who were charged and convicted of crimes during the attack on the Capitol, WTOP reported.

In the motion, Cole's attorneys argued Cole’s actions were “motivated by grievances about the 2020 presidential election; was directed at the headquarters of the two national political parties on Capitol Hill; and was timed ‘on the eve of the January 6 certification of the electoral college vote.'”

Cole was arrested on Dec. 4, 2025, at his Woodbridge home in what law enforcement officials described as a major breakthrough in their nearly five-year-old investigation.

During a search of Cole's home and car after his arrest, prosecutors say, investigators found shopping bags of bomb-making components. He at first denied having manufactured or placed the pipe bombs, prosecutors say, and when pressed about his whereabouts on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, initially told investigators he had driven by himself to attend a protest related to the 2020 election.

But over the course of hours of questioning, prosecutors say, Cole acknowledged he went to Washington not for a protest but rather to place the bombs. He stowed the explosives in a shoebox in the back seat of his Nissan Sentra and placed one apiece outside the RNC and DNC headquarters, setting the timer on each for 60 minutes, the memo says.

Neither device exploded, a fact Cole says he was “pretty relieved” about because he planted them at night and did not want to kill anyone, the memo says.

Cole later told investigators that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen and that he wanted to target the country's political parties because they were “in charge.”

According to the memo shared by prosecutors, Cole told agents who interviewed him that 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. You know, just to, just to at the very least calm things down.”

He said “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse" and that he wanted to do something “to the parties” because “they were in charge," according to the Justice Department's memo. Prosecutors say when Cole was asked why he had placed the explosives at the RNC and DNC, he responded, “I really don't like either party at this point.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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