A US federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against two former FBI officials accused of making false statements to Congress about Hunter Biden, criticising the investigation as politically motivated, rushed and riddled with procedural errors.
US Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the criminal complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides on Monday, saying the investigation was marked by “critical mistakes.”
“What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization,” Faruqui said in a scathing ruling from the bench.
The judge noted that the investigation began a day after President Donald Trump delivered a primetime speech in which he repeated grievances about his 2020 election defeat.
He said the inquiry was mandated and closely monitored by FBI Director Kash Patel.
Faruqui also questioned the timing of the prosecution, noting that the Justice Department could have brought the case earlier but instead filed charges two weeks ago, shortly before Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar,” Faruqui said.
The ruling followed a dramatic hearing in which the judge criticised prosecutors over their handling of the case.
An FBI agent who worked on the investigation also testified that he had feared the inquiry would be viewed as “political.”
The Justice Department may still pursue a grand jury indictment against the two former officials.
However, the dismissal represents a significant setback for prosecutors, particularly as the department has struggled to secure indictments in politically sensitive cases in Washington.
Faruqui’s concerns emerged early in the proceedings, when he questioned why prosecutors had pursued the case through a criminal complaint rather than an indictment requiring grand jury approval.
Criminal complaints are typically used when investigators need to take a defendant into custody urgently.
At a preliminary hearing last week, the judge also criticised prosecutors for filing an amended complaint overnight, adding another criminal charge directly to the court docket without first seeking approval.
He said he had never encountered such a procedure before.
The hearing included testimony from an FBI agent who said the investigation began shortly after Trump delivered an election security speech in July and was ordered by Patel, who closely monitored its progress.
The case accused Floris and Benavides of misleading Congress in 2023 about their involvement in, and knowledge of, efforts to investigate a laptop allegedly dropped off by Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, at a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019.
The prosecution also revived longstanding grievances by Trump and his Republican allies, who have accused the FBI of suppressing information during the 2020 presidential campaign that could have damaged the Biden family.
Joe Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump, the Republican incumbent, in that election.
The Justice Department’s case cited a 2020 “defensive briefing” delivered by Floris and Benavides to lawmakers.
Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have argued that the briefing was used to undermine their investigation into the Biden administration and link it to Russian disinformation.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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