Pipe-bomb defendant Brian J. Cole Jr. on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to the four explosives-related felony counts handed up in an April 14 superseding indictment by a District of Columbia federal grand jury.
Cole, 30, of Woodbridge, Va., was arraigned on the new indictment, which added two terrorism-related charges to the original two charges claiming he planted pipe bombs at the Democratic National Committee and near the Republican National Committee the night of Jan. 5, 2021.
The added charges include one federal count of the use of weapons of mass destruction, and one DC charge of an act of terrorism while armed, for the “attempted malicious burning, destruction or injury of property.”
The April 22 hearing, U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali denied a defense motion for early return of three subpoenas, and denied prosecutors’ motion to show cause why the defense should not be held in contempt for allegedly violating the court’s evidence protective order by filing the un-redacted subpoenas on the public docket.
Among those named in the subpoenas are former Capitol Police officer Shauni Rae Kerkhoff, who was identified in a Nov. 8 Blaze Media story as a forensic match to the hoodie-clad bomb suspect, using gait analysis.
According to defense filings, Kerkhoff became a person of interest in the pipe bomb case on Nov. 6, two days before the Blaze article on her was published.
The FBI administered a polygraph exam on Nov. 6, which the defense says Kerkhoff failed. The FBI examiner said the results indicated signs of deception, and evidence of Kerkhoff was giving rehearsed answers. Among the questions asked by the polygraph examiner: “Did you place those pipe bombs?” and “Did you place those pipe bombs that evening?”
Kerkhoff on April 22 filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Blaze Media, reporters Steve Baker and Joe Hanneman, and the reporters’ news platform, Veritas Regnat LLC.
The other subpoenas were for Kerkhoff’s boyfriend, Daniel Dickert, and Indiana forensic podiatrist Dr. Michael Nirenberg. A court filing by Cole’s defense team said Nirenberg was contracted by the FBI to do a gait analysis of Kerkhoff.
Judge Ali scheduled a status hearing for May 29 in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
The defense continues to await a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals on the denial of pretrial release for the defendant. •