Judge Dismisses Case Against Ex-FBI Officials Accused of Lying About Hunter Biden Probe
Seven Lights
A federal magistrate judge in Washington dismissed the criminal case against two former FBI counterintelligence officials on Monday, finding no probable cause that they lied to Congress about their knowledge of the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ruled against charges filed last month against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, which centred on testimony each gave to the House Judiciary Committee in July and September 2023 about the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, known as Round River. Some of the statements were not false, Judge Faruqui found, while others could be attributed to “honest mistakes of memory”.
“Without motive, without direct evidence, I have nothing,” he said from the bench. “I am deeply troubled by what has happened in this case.”
The judge also questioned why the case had been brought three years after the testimony, and less than two weeks before the midterm elections. “Why did this have to be charged in October 2026?” he asked. “There was simply no other event on the calendar, except for the midterm elections.” He added: “I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend I cannot read a calendar.” Of the prosecution as a whole, he said, “What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization.”
The probe’s origins featured in the ruling. An FBI agent testified that the investigation of Floris and Benavides began with President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security in July, in which the president announced the FBI would examine whether intelligence agencies had suppressed information about Chinese meddling in the 2020 election. The next day, FBI Director Kash Patel tasked the bureau’s Kansas City field office with scrutinising Floris, who had cast doubt on an intelligence assessment that China sought to aid Joe Biden’s campaign. Prosecutors also returned an unsigned, unsworn superseding complaint after midnight on the eve of the hearing to add obstruction charges — a move Judge Faruqui called improper and unheard of.
Margaret Donovan, a lawyer for Ms Floris, said after the ruling: “This case should have never been brought.” A Justice Department spokesperson said the department “disagrees with the Magistrate’s decision, which remarkably appears to suggest that high-ranking government officials are immune from accountability for making materially false statements to Congress,” and was evaluating all options.