WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal trial is scheduled to start in February for a Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters.The trial for Brian J. Cole Jr. is set to begin Feb. 16 and last about two weeks. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali set the trial date during a brief hearing Wednesday.Zachary Lawson, one of Cole’s lawyers, told Ali that defense attorneys and prosecutors have not discussed the possibility of a plea deal to resolve the case.On Monday, the judge ruled that Trump’s mass pardons for Capitol rioters did not apply to Cole. Ali refused to dismiss Cole’s case before trial, rejecting defense lawyers’ arguments that their client qualifies for a pardon because his alleged actions are “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to the events near the Capitol on Jan. 6.Ali, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, concluded that Trump’s blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters explicitly applied only to people who were convicted of crimes related to the attack.
Cole was arrested nearly a year after Trump, a Republican, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Prosecutors have said that Cole gave a confession when FBI agents questioned him after his arrest.
