Washington– Sweep President Donald Trump An act of compassion The rioters who stormed the US Capitol must also file a petition against the man charged Planting pipe bombs Near the Democratic and Republican National Headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, the suspect’s lawyers argue in an attempt to have his case dismissed.
In a File a lawsuit Defense lawyers assert Monday that Trump’s sweeping pardon extends to charges against Brian J. Cole Jr. because his alleged conduct on January 5, 2021, is “inextricably linked” to what happened at the Capitol the next day. They are asking U.S. District Judge Amir Ali to dismiss the case before trial.
Justice Department prosecutors did not immediately respond in writing to the defense request. In a precedent File a lawsuitCole, while being questioned by FBI agents, denied that his actions were connected to the Jan. 6 proceedings at the Capitol, prosecutors said.
Last January, on his first day back in the White House, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all the people a mob of more than 1,500 of his supporters accused of the attack.
Nearly a year later, Cole was arrested on charges of placing two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., the night before the riot. The devices did not explode before they were discovered by law enforcement officers on January 6.
Cole’s lawyers said the Justice Department’s framing of the case explicitly linked Cole’s alleged conduct on Jan. 5 to the events of Jan. 6, when rioters disrupted the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Trump.
“This is not a coincidental sequence in time. It is the government’s theory of Mr. Cole’s alleged motive and context,” the defense attorneys wrote. “According to the government, the timing was chosen because of what was scheduled to happen at the Capitol on January 6.”
They also argued that prosecutors’ theory of possible motive places Cole’s alleged conduct “in the same political controversy that sparked the January 6 crowd.”
In court filings, prosecutors said Cole confessed to investigators after his arrest on December 4. He told FBI agents he felt “baffled” by conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election and “something happened” after “watching everything, everything getting worse,” prosecutors said.
Cole has remained imprisoned since his arrest. His lawyers appealed Ali’s refusal to order Cole’s release from pretrial detention. The judge has not yet set a trial date.
Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, Va., has been diagnosed with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His lawyers say he has no criminal record.
Authorities said they used phone records and other evidence to identify him as a suspect in a crime that has confounded the FBI for more than four years.