The Proud Boys chairman calls Cole a scapegoat, demands prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine be fired, and says Congress should investigate the case — not the defendant
Enrique Tarrio is calling on President Trump’s Justice Department to drop the pipe-bomb case against Brian Cole Jr., free him from pretrial detention, and investigate the people running the prosecution.
In a Sept. 10 post directed at U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, the Proud Boys chairman cast Cole as a pipe-bomb scapegoat. Tarrio demanded that DOJ fire prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine and that Congress investigate the prosecution and judges, not Cole.
The Justice Department’s January indictment release alleges Cole planted explosive devices outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021. The indictment carries Ballantine’s name as deputy chief of the National Security Section under Pirro’s signature.
Tarrio’s demand lands inside a case that has become a test of whether Trump’s DOJ will revisit the longest-running mystery of January 6. Cole has pleaded not guilty, and Judge Amir Ali set jury selection for February 2027.
Ali earlier rejected Cole’s argument that Trump’s Jan. 6 clemency proclamation covered the alleged conduct, ruling the proclamation did not cover Cole because Trump issued it before prosecutors charged him, CBS News reported.
Tarrio’s message to the administration is direct: drop the case, free Cole, and turn the investigative spotlight on the prosecutors who built it.
National File founder Noel Fritsch was on the ground at Judiciary Square outside the Justice Department ahead of Cole’s hearing, where he spoke with investigative journalist Steve Baker, as they awaited Enrique Tarrio’s press conference.