Judge tosses case against ex-FBI officials days before midterms

A federal magistrate judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed the Justice Department's criminal case against two former FBI officials on Monday. The decision ends the government's attempt to prosecute Bradley Benavides and Nikki Floris for allegedly lying to Congress about the bureau's investigations into former President Joe Biden's son.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui described the prosecution as rushed and filled with errors. He told the packed courtroom that the department's actions amounted to "weaponization." Faruqui said he was "deeply troubled" by how the case was handled. He noted that the investigation began on the orders of FBI Director Kash Patel one day after President Trump gave a primetime address in mid-July. In that speech, Trump urged the FBI to investigate the handling of the Hunter Biden matters.

The judge pointed to specific timing issues in the prosecution. The alleged false statements were made to Congress in 2023, but the Justice Department waited three years to file charges. Prosecutors then brought the case just two weeks before the midterm elections. Faruqui observed that the department had a policy against timing legal actions to influence an election, yet the only looming event in this case was the vote.

Faruqui also criticized the format of the charges. He noted that prosecutors filed a criminal complaint instead of seeking a grand jury indictment. Criminal complaints are typically reserved for urgent situations involving imminent danger, strict statute of limitations deadlines, or a risk of flight. None of those factors were present here. The judge suggested that prosecutors might be avoiding a grand jury because of recent instances in Washington, D.C., where grand juries refused to return indictments in high-profile political cases.

The Justice Department responded to the dismissal in a statement. A department spokesperson said the agency disagreed with the ruling. The spokesperson argued that the decision implied high-ranking officials are immune from accountability for making materially false statements to Congress. The department said it was evaluating all options and that its actions would be guided by the facts, evidence, and law, not politics.

The dismissal comes after a days-long preliminary hearing last week. That hearing determined whether probable cause existed to charge the two officials. It featured testimony from an FBI agent involved in the original investigation. Faruqui spent about an hour explaining his decision on Monday. He left the door open for prosecutors to appeal the decision to the district's chief judge or to go directly to a grand jury to try for an indictment.

Outside the courtroom, a group of former senior FBI officials greeted Floris and Benavides. Floris was in tears as she hugged her former colleagues. She then embraced Benavides. Margaret Donovan, one of Floris' attorneys, said the case should never have been brought. She called the government's effort a "slap-dash complaint" and said that facts and truth prevailed in the courtroom.