Trump may have accidentally pardoned the pipe bomber already

It’s been quite the week for Donald Trump and his top law enforcement officials. First, FBI head Kash Patel was roundly mocked for his incompetence. Then, Patel and the attorney general excitedly announced that they’d caught the Washington pipe bomber. Now, it turns out Trump may have already pardoned the guy:

https://t.co/iznhQ2M0cx pic.twitter.com/8PPyZxinDP

— doomer (@uncledoomer) December 5, 2025

Trump pipe bomber — Law and disorder

Kash Patel is Trump’s head of the FBI; he’s also a conspiracist who wrote children’s books based on the president:

This is Kash Patel—the author of a “children’s” book that teaches kids the U.S. is a kingdom, indoctrinates them in false conspiracy theories, assaults democracy and primes them to be obedient MAGA fascists. pic.twitter.com/Cqv2jZ1vxW

— Railsplitter Fella 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 (@Rail_splitter1) January 31, 2025

Although he targets his literary works at children, his policing is actually less well thought-out than that. As reported by the Guardian:

According to the assessment, on 11 September, the day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Patel arrived in Provo, Utah, but refused to leave the FBI jet without an appropriate raid jacket. A described “highly respected” source in the report explained that agents working the Kirk investigation had to stop their work to find a medium-sized jacket for Patel. When a female agent’s jacket was delivered, Patel complained about missing Velcro patches on the sleeves and refused to disembark until Swat team members removed patches from their own uniforms and attached them to the borrowed jacket.

The same source confirmed media reports that Patel “yelled” at the special agent-in-charge and directed “an expletive-laden tirade” over “perceived blunders” in the case. Dan Bongino, the deputy director, later telephoned to apologize, “saying that never should have happened”.

Patel has also allegedly been using the FBI to facilitate his romantic entanglements:

FBI Director Kash Patel ordered agents to drive his girlfriend Alex Wilkins’ intoxicated friend home on at least two occasions.

In one instance, Patel called the head of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to carry out the request on behalf of his girlfriend.

Follow:… pic.twitter.com/0Ji5rgRHBy

— AF Post (@AFpost) December 5, 2025

FBI Director Kash Patel is using taxpayer funds to fly around on a $62 million jet to his girlfriend’s concerts…all while Americans struggle to pay for healthcare, rent, and groceries. pic.twitter.com/0dKXgAbfpk

— Rep. Zoe Lofgren (@RepZoeLofgren) December 3, 2025

So why does Trump keep Patel around when he’s reportedly so incompetent?

We don’t know, man, but here’s a totally unrelated video:

Pam Bondi swears the FBI has "tens of thousands of Epstein videos," urging patience as they sift through the evidence.

Soon after, Kash Patel claims there’s nothing there or that the videos have mysteriously vanished. Poof. Gone.

they are protecting Pedophiles pic.twitter.com/JumCVNLNzJ

— Irlandarra (@aldamu_jo) December 3, 2025

Bringing us to Patel’s bounceback, the following clip was from the pipe bomber announcement (we’d advise you don’t watch the full video at work, because it’s a hardcore 30 minutes of Trump officials sucking each other off):

Irony just died on live TV.

Kash Patel actually said: “When you attack our nation’s Capitol, you attack the very being of our way of life. We will always refute it and combat it.”

This from the same crew that pardoned 1,500 attackers and turned January 6 into a loyalty test.… pic.twitter.com/zFtCWeGiGu

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) December 5, 2025

The suspected pipe bomber is one Brian Cole Jr., who placed bombs outside the Democratic and Republican party headquarters the day before the January 6th insurrection-attempt. According to NBC:

The man charged with planting two pipe bombs near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter.

They add:

Trump’s claims about the 2020 election were part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the results. In his final report on the investigation, Smith said that Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” by spreading “demonstrably and, in many cases, obviously false” claims about the 2020 election. Trump has publicly maintained that he believed he won the election.

Trump infamously pardoned the January 6th failed-insurrectionists (many of whom have since been re-arrested for other offences).

Now, it’s speculated the pardon is vague enough that it could mean Cole walks free:

Interestingly, the pipe bomber surely would've been granted clemency by the text of the Jan. 6 pardon had they already been convicted. https://t.co/5714TEw8NX pic.twitter.com/Qgyk4l4q58

— Cody Fenwick (@codytfenwick) December 4, 2025

As a matter of contract or statutory language, “related to” is considered perhaps one of the broadest qualifiers possible. There’s case law on that exact language. Yes, he’s got a very good argument, will be fact-specific.

— John Jackson (@hissgoescobra) December 5, 2025

Will a clever lawyer be able to argue that the pardon covers Cole’s actions? We’ll have to wait and see.

Featured image via NBC