A federal magistrate judge has dismissed charges against two FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about Hunter Biden's laptop. US Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui stated that the case "cannot be described as anything other than weaponization" of the Justice Department.
The ruling came after a two-day probable cause hearing for Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, formerly of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force. Prosecutors alleged that the two downplayed their knowledge of the bureau’s Hunter Biden probes during interviews with the House Judiciary Committee in 2023. Benavides reportedly told the committee he learned details about the laptop from Wikipedia.
The New York Post first reported on the Hunter Biden laptop in October 2020. At the time, 51 former intelligence officials suggested the story was Russian disinformation. However, an FBI agent later confirmed the laptop belonged to Biden during his 2024 gun trial.
Judge Faruqui examined each of the 10 alleged lies attributed to the defendants, noting that the DOJ would have needed only one to stand per defendant for the case to proceed. The government’s sole witness was FBI Special Agent Bryan Witt.
Floris's attorney, Margaret Donovan, argued that her client was an overworked official who supervised hundreds of employees and that occasional messages about Hunter Biden could have been overlooked. Witt testified that agents reviewed "hundreds of thousands" of Floris’s internal communications. Donovan also cited mitigating circumstances, including that Floris had not been specifically briefed on Hunter Biden prior to her committee appearance, the events in question occurred three years earlier, and the interview took place early in the morning.
Donovan also focused on the semantics of Floris’s statements, arguing that her response of "I did not" when asked about being "involved" in the Hunter Biden investigation could be accurate depending on the definition of "involved" and which specific investigation was referenced. Witt countered that Floris became involved by speaking with the criminal division regarding the investigation into Hunter Biden for tax fraud and gun crimes.
Benavides's lawyer, Ron Safer, contended that the FBI officials may have misspoken rather than lied. He highlighted that Witt admitted he "should have said 'I don't know'" when asked about the presence of Democratic staff on the Judiciary Committee, despite government exhibits listing them by title.
Witt also acknowledged that FBI Director Kash Patel had pressed for weekly updates on the case, which he described as an unusual level of involvement from top officials in a false statements case.