In brief

• A federal judge in Washington dismissed the criminal complaint against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigation.
• The judge found prosecutors had not shown probable cause that the pair knowingly gave false information, and said the case was rushed and politically timed.
• The charges were brought by complaint rather than a grand jury, days before the midterm elections.

Judge finds no probable cause

On Monday, November 2, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the case after concluding that prosecutors had not demonstrated that Floris and Benavides knowingly provided lawmakers with inaccurate information (Judge Rejects Charges That Ex-FBI Officials Lied About Hunter Biden Probe – WSJ) (Judge accuses DOJ of 'weaponization,' tosses case against ex-FBI officials – NPR) (Judge tosses case against two officials accused of lying about Hunter Biden – The Guardian). The two had been accused of misleading the House Judiciary Committee during 2023 testimony about their work on the bureau's probes of the son of former President Joe Biden. According to the complaint, they misrepresented their role on the Foreign Influence Task Force and their part in the investigations (Judge dismisses case against ex-FBI agents accused on lying to Congress in Hunter Biden investigation – NBCNews.com).

Charges brought by complaint, not grand jury

Prosecutors filed the case as a criminal complaint instead of presenting it to a federal grand jury in Washington. Jurors in the capital have recently declined to indict several figures seen as foes of President Donald Trump, including an attempt to indict Cassidy Hutchinson.

Judge criticizes timing and motives

Faruqui said the case amounted to weaponization and suggested the charges were timed for a politically sensitive moment, about 10 days before the midterm elections. He said he would not ignore the calendar. He described the case as rushed and marked by mistakes.

Testimony at preliminary hearing

The ruling followed testimony last week from an FBI agent at a preliminary hearing. The agent said he was worried the probe, which FBI Director Kash Patel had directed, was moving ahead without an adequate basis. The charges had been filed roughly two weeks before the dismissal.

Broader context

The case is part of a string of politically charged moves by the Justice Department under Trump ahead of the midterms. The Hunter Biden investigation had produced data from an abandoned laptop that later led to criminal charges against the president's son.