A man charged with planting pipe bombs near the U.S. Capitol on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot claims he's covered by President Donald Trump's blanket pardons. In a court filing Monday, attorneys for Brian J. Cole Jr. asked a judge to dismiss his case on the grounds that it falls under Trump's sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all 1,500-plus people charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Nearly a year later, Cole was arrested on charges that he placed two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters on the night before the riot.
