Judge Faruqui Drops Criminal Complaint Against Two Ex-FBI Agents

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed a federal criminal complaint on Monday against two former FBI officials. The agents, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, faced charges of falsely downplaying their knowledge of a laptop that the Justice Department states belonged to Hunter Biden.

The ruling marks a distinct procedural defeat for the Justice Department, which had relied on a criminal complaint rather than seeking a grand jury indictment. Faruqui questioned this approach early in the proceedings, noting that complaints are typically reserved for situations requiring immediate custody. The judge later criticized prosecutors for filing an amended complaint with an additional charge overnight directly to the docket without prior court clearance. He stated he had never seen such a maneuver before.

Testimony from an FBI agent who worked the case added context to the judge's skepticism. The agent testified that the investigation began hours after President Donald Trump delivered an election security speech in July. The agent also noted that FBI Director Kash Patel maintained close oversight of the matter and that he personally worried the probe would be perceived as political.

The original case alleged that Floris and Benavides misled Congress in 2023 regarding their involvement in investigating a device dropped off at a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019. The device is linked to Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden. The charges echoed long-standing complaints from Trump and Republican allies that the FBI suppressed information during the 2020 campaign that could have harmed the Biden family.

Specific evidence in the government's filing referenced a defensive briefing given to lawmakers in 2020. Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin previously argued that briefing was used to undermine their investigation into the Biden administration and associate it with Russian disinformation. Candidate Joe Biden, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

The Justice Department retains the option to seek a grand jury indictment against the two former officials. Their attorneys had actively pressed for the dismissal of the charges. The current ruling stands as a setback given the difficulty the department has faced in securing indictments from grand juries in the capital for politically charged prosecutions.