A federal magistrate judge on Monday dropped the criminal case against two former FBI agents who were charged with lying to Congress.
Last month, two former senior FBI officials were arrested and charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, were taken into custody and charged with making false statements about the Hunter Biden laptop investigation.
Floris also privately boasted about "running a shadow government" during the 2020 election.
"Evidence shows that Floris discussed the FBI's investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year both within the FITF and with others in the FBI. Contrary to his assertion that he learned of the Hunter Biden laptop from Wikipedia, Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the leadup to the 2020 election," the DOJ said.
Floris and Benavides both falsely testified that the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) was not involved in the Hunter Biden laptop investigation.
Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were taken into custody today on charges of allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) October 23, 2026
The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the…
Far-left magistrate judge Zia Faruqui on Monday blasted the Justice Department for a series of errors in a "slapdash job" and tossed out the charges.
According to MS NOW, Faruqui told prosecutors that he was "deeply troubled" by the case.
Breaking: Federal judge dismisses—and lambastes—the DOJ false statements case against two former FBI officials. Calls it “weaponization.”
— Ken Dilanian (@KDilanianMSNOW) November 2, 2026
Judge Faruqui—a former federal prosecutor himself—said the government made a number of errors in their "slapdash job" of a case. He said…
The Justice Department will likely appeal Faruqui's ruling to a Chief Judge.
Additionally, since Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides have not been indicted by a grand jury, the DOJ could also seek a grand jury indictment.
UPDATE: For the record, Zia Faurqui has a long history of awful and harmful decisions.
Julie Kelly pointed this out today:
Zia Faruqui— and my longtime followers are familiar with his name—is a magistrate judge. Not appointed by the president, not confirmed by the Senate.
He signed hundreds of J6 arrest warrants including on the unlawful 1512c2 charge. He refused to release Couy Griffin, accused of 2 misdemeanors, from custody.
Last year, he actually apologized to a guy accused of pointing lasers at Secret Service agents and the president's helicopter after he was charged.
Once again – the abject failure of Congressional Republicans to hold ANY of these judges accountable continues to reverberate in the hopelessly corrupt, unaccountable DC courthouse.
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Here is Julie's tweet:
Zia Faruqui— and my longtime followers are familiar with his name—is a magistrate judge. Not appointed by the president, not confirmed by the Senate.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) November 2, 2026
He signed hundreds of J6 arrest warrants including on the unlawful 1512c2 charge. He refused to release Couy Griffin, accused of… https://t.co/fA6qAd3HCo
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