After the Department of Justice indicted the accused Jan. 6 pipe bomber in a local court, a federal judge has demanded answers about the jurisdictional fallout of that decision by the close of the business day on New Year’s Eve.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors claimed to have ended a more than five-year-old mystery: They accused Brian Cole Jr. of having placed pipe bombs at the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021.
More than three weeks after charging the case in federal court, the Justice Department finally obtained an indictment from a grand jury in D.C. Superior Court.
On Dec. 30, U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh ordered Cole’s defense attorneys and prosecutors to submit written arguments about whether he should accept the indictment.
Earlier this year, Chief U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg agreed with the government that D.C. law permitted using local grand juries for federal charges, but he found the legal issue unusual enough to stay his decision until an appellate court reviewed his decision.
The Justice Department’s decision to use this maneuver for a case of this magnitude surprised legal experts.
Allison Gill and I unpacked the development in a Substack Live this afternoon, along with news about the latest in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
During the conversation, I alluded to Judge Boasberg’s ruling here. Stay tuned for developments in both cases over the new year.
