Washington — The man accused of planting pipe bombs outside of the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot now faces two additional felony charges, according to a superseding indictment made public Wednesday. 

Brian Cole Jr. was arrested and charged in December with transporting and planting the two IEDs at the DNC and RNC headquarters. The new indictment adds charges of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction and committing an act of terrorism while armed.

The bombs did not detonate, but the FBI has said they were viable. The case had gone cold for years, and Trump administration officials described solving it as a top priority.

Cole pleaded not guilty to the initial charges against him but has not been arraigned on the new indictment. In January, Cole was ordered to be detained in jail in the run-up to his criminal trial. 

In court filings last year, the Justice Department said that Cole told investigators that he believed that the 2020 election had been tampered with and that "someone needs to speak up." Over the course of a 90-minute interview, investigators said, he "walked the interviewing agents in detail through his construction, transportation, and planting of the pipe bombs." 

According to the court documents from prosecutors, Cole told investigators that he wasn't targeting the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. Supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol and interrupted the counting of the electoral votes, delaying the official validation of the 2020 election results. Mr. Trump has falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. 

Cole allegedly told investigators that he disliked both political parties and didn't consider himself a "political person." But after the 2020 election, "when it first seemed like something was wrong" and "stuff started happening," he began following the issue closely on YouTube and Reddit and felt "bewildered," the court documents said. 

Prosecutors alleged Cole told them that he bought the bomb-making materials between 2018 and 2020. 

Last month, Cole's lawyers argued that the charges against him are "inextricably and demonstrably tethered" to the events of Jan. 6. They asked a judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him on the grounds that he is covered by Mr. Trump's sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 rioters.

The Justice Department pushed back on the claims, arguing that Cole's actions were not covered by the pardons. 

Prosecutors wrote that the president's proclamation expressly limited relief to individuals who had been "convicted of" or had a "pending indictment" for offenses related to the events at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6.

"On January 20, 2025, the defendant belonged to neither category, and so the proclamation has no bearing on this case," the Justice Department wrote. 

The Justice Department added that when Mr. Trump issued the pardons on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025, "law enforcement had not identified the defendant, much less charged or convicted him, and the pipe bombs investigation proceeded unabated."

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali has not scheduled a hearing to hear Cole's motion, but a status hearing is scheduled for April 21.