A federal magistrate judge on Monday dismissed the Justice Department’s criminal case against two former FBI officials charged in connection with the bureau’s investigations into former President Joe Biden’s son. Bradley Benavides and Nikki Floris were charged around two weeks ago with lying to Congress in 2023 about their knowledge of the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden, marking one of several politically charged actions by the Justice Department under President Trump ahead of the midterm elections on Tuesday.
Judge Faruqui Criticizes Investigation
At a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui castigated the government’s investigation into Floris and Benavides, describing it as rushed and riddled with errors. In a scathing ruling from the bench in front of a packed courtroom that included many former senior FBI officials, Faruqui stated he was deeply troubled by the events and characterized what transpired as weaponization.
The court’s ruling followed a days-long preliminary hearing last week to determine whether probable cause existed to charge Floris and Benavides with lying to Congress, which featured testimony from one of the FBI agents who investigated the case. Faruqui laid out the basis for his decision over the course of an hour on Monday.
The judge noted that the investigation into Floris and Benavides was opened on FBI Director Kash Patel’s orders the day after President Trump delivered a primetime address on national television in mid-July, during which Trump repeated false claims about fraud in the 2020 election and urged the FBI to investigate. Faruqui pointed out that the alleged false statements were made to Congress in 2023, yet the Justice Department waited three years to pursue the case and brought charges about two weeks before the midterm elections, despite a DOJ policy prohibiting timing any action to influence an election.
Faruqui also highlighted that charges were filed as a criminal complaint, a document typically reserved for situations involving urgency such as imminent danger, a statute of limitations deadline, or a risk of flight—none of which applied in this case. The judge stated that the only looming event was the midterms, adding that he would not ignore the calendar.
Furthermore, Faruqui noted that prosecutors appeared reluctant to take the case before a grand jury, potentially due to the Justice Department’s recent poor track record with grand juries in Washington, D.C., where grand juries under the Trump administration have refused to return indictments in high-profile, politically charged cases on several occasions.
Reactions and Next Steps
In a statement, a Justice Department spokesperson said the department disagrees with the magistrate’s decision, adding that it remarkably appears to suggest that high-ranking government officials are immune from accountability for making materially false statements to Congress. The spokesperson stated that the department is evaluating all options while noting it cannot comment further on an ongoing criminal investigation, and maintained that the department’s actions will continue to be guided by the facts, the evidence, and the law rather than politics.
Although Faruqui dismissed the case, he noted that nothing prevents prosecutors from going to a grand jury to try and secure an indictment or appealing his decision to the district’s chief judge. Following the hearing, a group of former FBI officials greeted Floris and Benavides outside the courtroom, where Floris shared hugs with her former colleagues and Benavides with tears in her eyes.
Margaret Donovan, one of Floris’ attorneys, stated that the case should never have been brought and that the government had no case. Describing the action as a slap-dash complaint, spaghetti-at-the wall, Hunter Biden conspiracy fever dream, Donovan stated that facts and truth still matter in a courtroom, which is what prevailed.
