U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled that President Trump’s pardons for more than 1,500 January 6 defendants do not extend to Brian J. Cole Jr., a Virginia man charged with planting unexploded pipe bombs outside DNC and RNC headquarters the night before the Capitol events. Cole was arrested nearly a year after the pardons were issued on Trump’s first day in office and later confessed to FBI agents. The decision aligns with the scope of the pardons, which addressed defendants tied to the Capitol breach.