Federal Judge Makes Ruling On Whether J6 Pipe Bomber Is Covered Under President Trump’s J6 Pardons

The ruling is in.

A Federal Judge has ruled on whether accused J6 pipe bomber Brian Cole Jr. is covered under President Trump’s sweeping J6 pardons.

In December of 2025, President Trump signed a sweeping executive order that pardoned mostly everyone involved in the protest the occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

A Federal Judge has ruled accused J6 pipe bomber Brian Cole Jr. is not pardoned under President Trump’s pardons.

CBS News provided further details on the judge’s ruling:

A federal judge rejected a motion to dismiss the criminal charges against the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, finding that President Trump’s sweeping pardons of the rioters were “expressly limited” to those who were convicted of their actions that day.

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U.S. District Judge Amir Ali denied a motion by lawyers for Brian Cole Jr. arguing his actions were “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to the events of Jan. 6 and should be dismissed.

Cole’s legal team pointed to filings by prosecutors that said Cole had told the FBI he had traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a 2020 election-related protest, which suggested he was part of “the same political controversy that animated the January 6 crowd.” And they noted that even though the bombs were allegedly planted on Jan. 5, they were discovered on the following afternoon.

“The Pardon—like it or not—applies to Mr. Cole, based on the ordinary and plain meaning of the Pardon’s language as applied to the relevant facts in this case,” Cole’s lawyers wrote.

In court filings, the Justice Department argued the pardon explicitly does not cover Cole’s alleged conduct, which Ali agreed with.

“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,” Ali wrote in a three-page opinion Monday. “Cole had not been convicted of the conduct at issue when the President issued the pardon; indeed, he was not charged until many months after the President’s proclamation.”

Rep. Thomas Massie doesn’t believe Brian Cole Jr. is the pipe bomber:

How did the officers know on January 6th to look exclusively in the only two places where the alleged pipe bomber dwelled on January 5th? At least one of them was part of the plot.

Release Brian Cole, Jr. https://t.co/ssN0aRP2MT

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 2, 2026

Trump’s digital strategist Alex Bruesewitz has another theory.

Watch him explain here:

I had @alexbruesewitz on the show yesterday. It was great.

He said something interesting about Brian Cole Jr. when I asked if he believed Brian was the pipe bomber.

He says he believes Brian planted the bombs, but strongly implied others were involved.

I personally believe… pic.twitter.com/E2shIB4Dwn

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) June 27, 2026