Judge dismisses case against two ex-FBI officials over Hunter Biden

Summarised from 3 outlets · Updated 2 Nov, 23:10 · Archive

A federal judge has dismissed charges against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigation.

Federal Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the case against Nicole Floris and Bradley Benavides on Monday in a scathing decision. Each had been charged with one count of lying to Congress. The judge said prosecutors failed to establish probable cause that the officials had knowingly made false statements to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 when they testified about the FBI's role in investigating Hunter Biden's laptop.

Floris and Benavides worked on an FBI taskforce examining potential foreign influence in American politics. The taskforce had raised concerns in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election that Russia could have engaged in disinformation operations to assist Donald Trump's campaign by spreading claims about Hunter Biden's laptop.

Judge Faruqui expressed deep concern about the prosecution's conduct. He said the government had conducted a "slapdash job" and accused it of weaponisation. The Guardian reports that the judge noted some of the officials' statements were not actually false and others could be attributed to "honest mistakes of memory". All three outlets report that Faruqui criticised prosecutors for rushing the case, with the Guardian and CNBC noting he suggested the charges were brought deliberately just before the midterm elections.

CNBC reports that Faruqui even apologised to the government's lawyers, calling it "incredibly unfair" that they were assigned to defend the flawed case. He also said the situation "does not feel like an investigation", describing it as "a broken one-wish willow obsession".

Outside court, Floris and Benavides embraced and cried. Their lawyers condemned the prosecution. CNBC reports that a lawyer for Floris called it a "spaghetti-at-the-wall, Hunter-Biden-conspiracy fever dream", while a lawyer for Benavides expressed hope the Department of Justice would not seek an indictment before a grand jury.

How it is being reported

• Judge tosses case against two officials accused of lying about Hunter BidenThe two FBI agents were charged with making false statements to Congress while testifying about the bureau’s role in investigating Biden’s laptop A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against two former FBI officials who were accused of lying about their involvement in the investigation into Hunter Biden , the son of former president Joe Biden, on Monday. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said prosecutors failed to show probable cause that the two former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, had knowingly made false statements. Continue reading...Guardian World · 2 Nov, 17:33
• Judge tosses DOJ case against ex-FBI officials accused of lying about Hunter Biden probe: ReportsJudge Zia Faruqui suggested the prosecution of ex-officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides was rushed to come out ahead of the midterm election.CNBC · 2 Nov, 16:42
• Case dismissed against 2 ex-FBI officials in Hunter Biden probeThe two former FBI officials, Nicole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were accused of falsely suggesting to Congress that they weren't aware of the federal investigations surrounding Hunter Biden.CBS News · 2 Nov, 16:22

In this story: Nicole Floris · Bradley Benavides · Zia Faruqui · Hunter Biden · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice · House Judiciary Committee · United States

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log