A judge tossed a case against two former senior FBI officials accused of lying about Hunter Biden's laptop, calling it clear 'weaponization' by the Trump administration.
US Magistrate Judge Zia M Faruqui scolded federal prosecutors for bringing charges against the former FBI officials - Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides - last month.
Both were charged with allegedly lying to Congress about their roles on the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, or FITF, that investigated Hunter Biden for financial crimes.
The two former FBI officials were charged by criminal complaint, which means that federal prosecutors had not secured a grand jury indictment.
Faruqui scolded the Justice Department for pursuing what he assailed as a 'slapdash' case that he said was brought without evidence or motive.
He told lawyers for the Justice Department he is 'deeply troubled by what has happened' in their attempt to prosecute the former FBI officials days before the 2026 midterm elections.
DOJ's actions, he said, 'cannot be described as anything other than weaponization.'
Two former FBI officials accused of orchestrating Hunter Biden's laptop 'cover-up' were slapped with bombshell new charges by President Donald Trump's Justice Department
Hunter Biden is seen arriving at federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2024
The E. Barrett Prettyman US Federal Courthouse is seen in Washington, DC. The two former FBI agents appeared in court last week for a preliminary hearing on accusations that they lied to Congress
'This does not feel like an investigation,' Faruqui said. 'It feels like a broken, one-wish willow obsession.'
It's not the first time that the judge questioned DOJ over its motivations and timing The original charges were unsealed late last month, just 10 days before the Nov. 3 midterms.
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Faruqui, a former federal prosecutor, expressed profound concern about the government's attempt to charge the agents, which he noted could have been done at any time since their testimony in 2023.
Instead, they chose to do so via criminal complaint, and act in the final days before the midterms.
'I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar,' Faruqui said Monday before dismissing the cases outright.
His concerns had visibly deepened last week, after Justice Department lawyers attempted to file a public, 'superseding complaint' that sought to charge both Floris and Benavides for alleged obstruction.
The new charges were quickly dismissed, but not without a dressing-down from the judge.
One of the many photos of Hunter found on his laptop
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Share'Everything is just a little sideshow on top of a little sideshow,' the judge said last week, 'and it's hard to see the forest for the trees here.'
Hunter's laptop, which was abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware and then obtained by former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, became a flashpoint in the run-up to the 2020 election, after its contents were reported by the New York Post.
He was later convicted of felony gun charges and separate tax offenses, though he was pardoned by his father shortly before leaving office.
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