Judge rejects new charge against former FBI officials

A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt by the Justice Department to add an obstruction charge against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about their knowledge of investigations involving Hunter Biden. The judge said prosecutors had filed the new complaint overnight without a signature, a sworn statement or judicial review.

Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui struck the superseding complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides but left the original complaint in place. That complaint, filed last week, accuses the former officials of making false statements to the House Judiciary Committee about their awareness of the government’s investigations surrounding Hunter Biden. Faruqui continued a preliminary hearing on whether the original charge meets the probable-cause standard. The hearing was scheduled to resume Wednesday.

“We have never had complaints filed that are unsigned,” Faruqui said, calling the filing “inappropriate” and saying it “harms the defendants.” According to CBS News, the new complaint appeared on the public court docket after midnight before a judge had reviewed it for probable cause. The docket was later updated to say the filings had been entered “in error.”

Prosecutor John Borchert acknowledged that filing a new criminal complaint this way was unprecedented in his experience. He asked whether the FBI agent supporting the complaint could swear to it during the hearing so Faruqui could consider it. The judge refused, asking why prosecutors had not followed the process used in “every other case in the history of this district.” Borchert said the government was not afraid of a probable-cause finding.

The rejected complaint sought to add an allegation that Floris and Benavides obstructed a congressional proceeding. According to CBS News, it alleged they had concealed their awareness of and involvement in FBI investigations into Hunter Biden. Floris and Benavides testified to the committee on July 19 and Sept. 28, 2023, respectively. CBS News reported that Floris had been a deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and Benavides had been its section chief.

Mary Dohrmann, a lawyer for Floris, said changes between the two complaints raised questions about accuracy. “The evidence is mounting that this prosecution is about some political football, and not the law or the facts in this case,” she said. Floris’ legal team called the overnight filing “outrageous government conduct against a decorated public servant” and said the new charge was as meritless as the first.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Witt, who investigated the case, testified that he had worried the assignment would be viewed as political. “I have my own cases in Kansas City, I have some great cases going, I wasn’t looking for extra cases that would be controversial,” he said, according to CBS News.

Witt said the investigation was assigned to the Kansas City field office after FBI Director Kash Patel directed it to examine people including Floris. Witt described the work as a “huge distraction” from another case. He said it was prioritized and agents were told to pursue it aggressively, but testified that Patel did not press him personally, NBC News reported.