Trial for alleged Jan. 6 pipe bomber set for February
Brian Cole Jr. is seen in this undated yearbook photo from the C.D. Hylton High School in 2013. (C.D. Hylton High School)
(WASHINGTON) — Brian Cole Jr., the Virginia man charged with placing pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, is set to go to trial in February, a federal judge said during a court hearing Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali set the trial date for Feb. 16 based on a request from Cole’s lawyers, who pointed to massive tranches of evidence the government has shared with them stemming from the roughly five-year investigation into the placement of the pipe bombs.
The government and Cole’s attorneys said they expect the trial could take as long as two weeks.
Both sides will next return to court on Sept. 10 for a status conference.
On Monday, Judge Ali ruled that the sweeping clemency granted by President Donald Trump for all of the individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack does not apply to Cole.
Cole’s defense attorneys had argued that Cole should be covered by President Trump’s pardons on the basis that his actions were allegedly related to Congress’ convening of the joint session the next day.
President Donald Trump listens during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on December 28, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The White House’s new policy for preserving presidential records risks allowing the Trump administration to “unlawfully destroy important records,” a group of Senate Democrats warned in a letter to the White House Counsel on Wednesday.
Thirteen Senate Democrats are seeking assurances from the White House that it would continue to preserve presidential records, saying they had grown “deeply concerned” with recent steps the Trump administration had taken to loosen rules dictating document retention.
The Democrats’ missive comes after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) wrote an opinion this month that deemed the Presidential Records Act — a Watergate-era law that changed the legal ownership of presidential records from private to public — to be unconstitutional and “untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose.”
One day after the opinion was issued, White House Counsel David Warrington issued new guidance for White House staffers to adopt new document retention policies based on the DOJ’s new determination about the legality of the Presidential Records Act.
“The 1978 law is a significant departure from historical practice. For 200 years the presidency existed without the legislative branch invading the rights of the executive branch,” Warrington said in a memo that was later included in a court filing.
Led by Sen. Adam Schiff of California, the Democrats wrote to White House Counsel David Warrington that they feared “the President and his staff” will use the OLC option to “unlawfully destroy important records covered by the [Presidential Records Act].”
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the Democrats’ letter reflects “a fundamental misunderstanding of the Administration’s policy.”
“The new White House records retention policy makes it clear that important records will be preserved,” Jackson added.
The senators, in their letter, alluded to what they characterized as President Donald Trump’s “unlawful personal retention and mismanagement of classified documents” in requesting a briefing from White House officials on their “records management procedures” at some point before the end of his term. Trump was indicted after his first term for allegedly storing classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing investigators, though the case was dismissed over U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s concerns about the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith.
Drafted in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Presidential Records Act was passed in 1978 to ensure the preservation of presidential records. Every president since Ronald Reagan has been subject to the law, which places the National Archives and Records Administration in control of the official records — such as emails, phone records, and other documentary material created by the president and his staff in the course of their duties — once the president leaves office.
Under the PRA, which is overseen by Congress, former presidents have up to 12 years after leaving office to turn over all their presidential records.
During President Trump’s current term, his administration has moved to unwind record retention protocols. Earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote an opinion that would upend the established process for ensuring the public ownership of presidential records, arguing that “the PRA exceeds the oversight power [of Congress] because it serves no identifiable and valid legislative purpose.”
With three years left in Trump’s second term, his Department of Justice now says the president “need not further comply” with the law governing the handover of his presidential records once he leaves office.
The day after the publication of the Justice Department’s opinion, Warrington issued new guidance for the Executive Office of the President regarding the preserve of records going forward. While the memo said that staff could use policies developed under the PRA, Warrington said the new policy would cover the retention of both classified and unclassified material going forward.
In their letter to Warrington on Wednesday, the senators asserted that administration “does not have the authority to override Supreme Court rulings or unilaterally overturn laws passed by Congress.”
Within a week of the OLC opinion and new White House guidance, the country’s largest group of a historians and a watchdog organization brought a lawsuit seeking to force the Trump administration to comply with the PRA.
“The Executive Branch has nullified the determinations of the other two branches of government so that the President may claim these official government records to be his own,” the lawsuit said.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have defended the policy in court filings, arguing the PRA is an “unconstitutional and ahistorical imposition on presidential autonomy.”
As part of the lawsuit, the Trump administration released the new White House guidance on document retention. The Director of Archival Operations at the National Archives, meanwhile, said that the agency continues to “preserve all Presidential records in its custody” and plans to continue processing requests to access those records.
(ALASKA) — No deaths have been reported after a United States Coast Guard helicopter crashed during a training flight in Alaska, the Coast Guard said Monday.
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter carrying four people crashed near Harbor Mountain in Sitka, near Juneau, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Arctic District. The incident was reported shortly after 10 a.m. local time.
The four crew members were transported to an area hospital, according to the Coast Guard, which did not release any details on their condition.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.
“The safety, well-being, and rescue of our crew members is our absolute, immediate priority,” the Coast Guard said. “A formal investigation will be conducted to determine the circumstances surrounding the event.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Actor Matthew Perry of the television show ‘The Kennedys – After Camelot’ speaks onstage during the REELZChannel portion of the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on January 13, 2017, in Pasadena, California (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES, Calif. ) — A man who helped supply Matthew Perry with the doses of ketamine that killed the “Friends” actor was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison.
Erik Fleming, a licensed drug addiction counselor, admitted in a plea agreement to working with another dealer to provide Perry with dozens of vials of ketamine, including the dose that led to the actor’s fatal overdose in October 2023 at the age of 54.
Fleming is one of five people charged and convicted in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry. He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
He faced up to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The sentence also includes three years of supervised release.
“I am regretfully sorry for the pain and anguish I have caused the family. It’s what hurts me the most,” Fleming told reporters upon leaving the courthouse.
He said he deserved a consequence, “and I got a consequence.”
“My chest and heart hurt every day for the pain that I’ve caused not only his family, but the millions of people who adored him,” Fleming said.
Federal prosecutors argued in a memorandum filed ahead of sentencing that Fleming should receive 30 months in prison due to his “profit-seeking behavior and reckless distribution of dubiously manufactured drugs.”
They said that after learning through a friend that Perry was seeking illicit ketamine, Fleming brokered multiple transactions between the other dealer, Jasveen Sangha, and the actor’s live-in personal assistant, “despite knowing the risk and dangers of selling the drugs.”
They said Fleming knew about Perry’s history of addiction and still chose to sell him drugs, which, unlike medical-grade ketamine, were contained in clear, unmarked vials of unknown concentrations. They said he also marked up the price of the vials Sangha was selling from $160 to $220.
They said Fleming struggled with addiction himself and was “well aware of the warning signs of drug seeking behavior,” but that he “nonetheless elected to insert himself into Mr. Perry’s addiction story to profit from it.”
“Although defendant’s drug trafficking appear[s] to be limited to the drug sales in October 2023, his criminal conduct nonetheless caused significant harm, including the loss of Mr. Perry’s life,” prosecutors stated.
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, requested that Fleming be sentenced to three months in prison and nine months in a residential drug treatment facility “where he can continue the hard work he has put into maintaining his sobriety.”
His attorneys, Robert Dugdale and Jeffrey Chemerinsky, said Fleming “relapsed into heavy drug use” following the death of his stepmother in September 2023 and was “most vulnerable to engage in uncharacteristically reckless conduct.” They argued that he only brokered three transactions “involving very small quantities” of ketamine to a single customer in exchange for less than $2,000 for “logistical fees.”
“Tragically, this brief diversion Mr. Fleming took from his otherwise law-abiding life led to a calamity Mr. Fleming never intended and foolishly did not foresee as possible,” the attorneys stated in a sentencing memorandum.
“Mr. Fleming is appearing at his sentencing fully acknowledging the role he played in this tragedy and is as remorseful as one could be for the harm he has caused those close to Mr. Perry,” they continued.
Fleming’s attorneys maintained there are multiple mitigating factors, including his “extraordinary cooperation,” which they said helped lead to the “immediate apprehension” of Sangha. Since pleading guilty, he has also “worked tirelessly to maintain his sobriety” and opened a sober living home, they said.
Prosecutors agreed that Fleming warranted leniency for accepting responsibility and cooperating with the government’s investigation, “including information that furthered the prosecution of a more culpable defendant,” Sangha.
Sangha, the so-called “Ketamine Queen,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month. She pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Prosecutors said she ran a “high-volume drug trafficking business” out of her residence in North Hollywood and continued to sell “dangerous drugs” even after learning she had sold ketamine that contributed to the overdose deaths of two men: Perry and, years earlier, Los Angeles resident Cody McLaury.
In addition to Fleming and Sangha, three other people were charged and pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death: Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s live-in personal assistant; and two doctors, Mark Chavez and Salvador Plasencia.
Prosecutors said Sangha worked with Fleming to distribute ketamine to Perry, and that in October 2023, they sold the actor 51 vials of ketamine that were provided to Iwamasa.
“Leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that Sangha supplied to Fleming,” the DOJ said in a press release last year. “Specifically, on October 28, 2023, Iwamasa injected Perry with at least three shots of Sangha’s ketamine, which caused Perry’s death.”
Iwamasa pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.
Chavez and Plasencia have already been sentenced for their roles in what prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.
Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months of home confinement in December 2025.
Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry before the actor’s death, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.
