MAGA Activists Push DOJ to Drop the Last Jan. 6-Era Prosecution, the Capitol Pipe Bomb Case

Every other Jan. 6-related federal case is closed. President Trump pardoned Capitol riot defendants on his first day back in office in January 2025, and the Justice Department shut down its remaining investigations into rioters who assaulted police and caused an estimated $2.7 billion in damage and costs, according to NBC News.

One case survived: Brian Cole Jr., accused of planting two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the Capitol riot. The devices were viable but never went off, according to law enforcement cited by NBC News. Because they were placed on Jan. 5, prosecutors argue the pardon doesn't apply. A federal judge agreed in July 2026, rejecting Cole's claim that he was already covered.

Cole was arrested in December 2025, almost five years after the bombs were found. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled for February 2027. The FBI says he confessed. His defense team says he was diagnosed with autism and plans to argue the confession should be thrown out, either because of his disability or because it was coerced, according to NBC News.

NBC News also reported that Cole told the FBI he believed the 2020 election had been stolen, a belief the network ties to false claims pushed by Trump and his supporters. Some of Trump's most fervent backers have rallied to Cole's defense despite that detail.

The 'inside job' theory

For years, a slice of the right insisted the pipe bombs were planted by government actors to make Jan. 6 look more violent than it was. Dan Bongino, before he became the FBI's deputy director, said on a 2024 podcast he had "zero doubt" the bombs were an inside job.

Once inside the bureau, Bongino pushed the stalled investigation forward. When Cole was arrested, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi credited Bongino by name at the December 2025 press conference announcing the charges, according to NBC News. Bongino left the FBI in January 2026 and has since declined to clarify whether he still believes the theory. Asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity, he said: "I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions, that's clear, and one day I will be back in that space, but that's not what I'm paid for now."

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., posted a photo from the announcement showing Bondi, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, FBI Director Kash Patel and Bongino together, a post NBC News framed as part of the broader push to cast doubt on the case. Right-wing activists have also shown up in court to support Cole, and former Jan. 6 defendants have backed him online.

The officer caught in the middle

Before Cole's arrest, the FBI investigated Shauni Kerkhoff, a former Capitol Police officer, after The Blaze, a conservative site founded by Glenn Beck, named her as a possible suspect based on what it called a "gait analysis." The story was co-written by Steve Baker, a former Jan. 6 defendant who pleaded guilty in November 2024 to four misdemeanors and was never sentenced.

Kerkhoff had testified in the first Jan. 6 trial, against rioter Guy Reffitt. A separate Blaze story accused the Capitol Police of using excessive force. Her attorneys say the FBI, citing "online chatter" tied to The Blaze's reporting, searched her Falls Church, Virginia, home with armed agents, a bomb-disposal truck and a helicopter, then put her through a three-hour polygraph interrogation before clearing her.

The Justice Department has since said Kerkhoff, who now works campus security for the CIA, became the target of a "malicious online conspiracy," and that the FBI's investigation "yielded zero evidence connecting Kerkhoff in any way to the construction, transportation, or planting of the pipe bombs." Her alibi, backed by evidence she was home when the bombs were placed on Jan. 5, was part of what the DOJ called "extensive evidence of Kerkhoff's innocence."

The Blaze retracted its story on Dec. 4, 2025, the same day charges against Cole were announced, saying that while it stood by its sources, "fairness and accuracy" required retraction. Kerkhoff sued Blaze Media for defamation in April 2026. Her attorneys argue the reporters "built their reporting careers on a single, unshakeable premise: that January 6, 2021 was a 'deep state' 'inside job,'" and that they worked backward from that theory rather than investigating with an open mind. They say the ordeal has left her life "irrevocably altered," citing lost friendships, professional setbacks, safety fears and a postponed wedding.

Blaze Media's legal team disputes that the story identified Kerkhoff directly and says it went through multiple rounds of editorial and legal review, including sign-off from company executives. The outlet has since fired Baker. The lawsuit is ongoing, and no court has ruled on the defamation claim.

What's actually contested

The due-process argument from Cole's defense, that a confession from a man diagnosed with autism deserves close scrutiny for coercion, is a standard and legitimate legal claim regardless of the underlying case. This is separate from the "deep state" theory pushed by Bongino and amplified online, which the FBI's own investigation, now cited by the Trump Justice Department itself, found no evidence to support.

Cole's trial is scheduled for February 2027, where his suppression motion and the merits of the case will be argued in court. Kerkhoff's defamation suit against Blaze Media remains active with no trial date yet set. Neither Bongino nor Massie has laid out specific evidence contradicting the FBI's finding that the theory they helped popularize was baseless.