Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect Brian Cole Jr. Seeks Dismissal of Terrorism Count

Brian Cole Jr., accused of planting pipe bombs near RNC and DNC headquarters, is asking a federal court to throw out a terrorism charge. He argues the DOJ has failed to specify which government entity he allegedly sought to influence.

Jan. 6 Pipe Bomb Defendant Challenges Terrorism Charge, Cites Lack of Government Target

Brian Cole Jr., the man accused of placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the January 6 Capitol attack, has filed a motion to dismiss one of the charges against him, Law & Crime reports.

Cole's legal team argues that the terrorism count in his indictment is fatally flawed. Under the applicable federal definition, an "act of terrorism" requires intent to "influence the policy or conduct of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion." Because neither the RNC nor the DNC are government entities, Cole contends the charge cannot stand.

The 12-page motion to dismiss Count Four of the indictment accuses the government of failing to "provide Mr. Cole with reasonable certainty of the nature of the accusation against him, if indeed there is one." The filing is direct: "Put simply, if the Government accuses and intends to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Cole intended to influence one of the eleven units of government that the D.C. Code specifies, the least it can do is specify which one."

Cole was first indicted in January on charges of interstate transportation of explosives and malicious attempt to use explosives, the Department of Justice announced at the time. In April 2026, a superseding indictment added two new counts for the then-30-year-old: using and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and the terrorism count now being challenged.

According to the criminal affidavit, Cole placed improvised explosive devices in front of both party headquarters on the evening of January 5, 2021. The bombs were discovered the following afternoon, as the Capitol insurrection was intensifying.

Cole's legal team has made prior attempts to have the case thrown out. In March of this year, they argued that President Donald Trump's January 2025 clemency order — which pardoned roughly 1,500 individuals for conduct related to January 6 — should apply to Cole as well. His attorneys contended the charges against him are "inextricably and demonstrably tethered" to the events of that day.

U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali, appointed by President Joe Biden, rejected that argument in July. "The pardon does not apply to him," Ali wrote bluntly. His opinion explained that the clemency order was "expressly limited to people who had been 'convicted of offenses' related to those events," while Cole had not been convicted — and had not even been charged — at the time Trump issued the proclamation.

The new motion raises two distinct legal objections. First, Cole's attorneys argue the terrorism count fails to identify any specific unit of government he allegedly sought to influence. Second, they allege the count suffers from "duplicity" — the government is said to be combining "two or more distinct offenses in a single count," which Cole's team argues could invite a conviction without a unanimous jury verdict and could complicate any future appeal.

"Count Four of the Indictment contains two material defects," the filing states, calling for either full dismissal of the count or, at minimum, a court order compelling the government "to explain its charge and commit to a single theory of prosecution — entreaties it has refused to date."

Source: Law & Crime