New Delhi, July 7 -- A federal judge in the US has refused a plea to dismiss criminal charges against Brian Cole Jr, the man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on the eve of the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

District Judge Amir Ali said that US President Donald Trump's pardons for Capitol rioters were "expressly limited" to individuals convicted of offences committed during the attack that day, CBS News reported Monday (local time).

His lawyers cited prosecutors' court filings, which said he had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he travelled to Washington, DC, to attend a protest related to the 2020 election. They argued that this showed...