Judge dismisses charges against two former FBI officials over Hunter Biden laptop

The ruling

On Monday, 2 November 2026, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the criminal case against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, two former FBI officials. Prosecutors in Washington had charged them in October with making false statements to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023, when they testified about the bureau's role in examining a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, son of former president Joe Biden. Faruqui said the Justice Department had not shown probable cause that the two knowingly made false statements. He added that some of the statements were not false at all, while others could be explained by honest mistakes of memory. The defense had sought a full dismissal, and the judge delivered his ruling from the bench in a lengthy hearing.

“What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization.”

Faruqui spoke for about an hour and apologized directly to Floris and Benavides for having been 'dragged through the process' of being charged by the government they had served for decades.

Why the judge said the case failed

Faruqui said prosecutors had rushed the case and made 'critical mistakes', and he admonished the U.S. attorney's office in Washington for trying to avoid basic checks and balances of the criminal justice system. He questioned why prosecutors filed a criminal complaint, a tool normally used when a defendant must be taken into custody, instead of seeking an indictment from a grand jury. At a preliminary hearing last week, he also rebuked the department for unexpectedly filing an amended complaint that added another criminal charge. Faruqui said he was deeply troubled by what happened in the case.

“I am deeply troubled by what happened here in the case.”

He also said the charges came in the immediate run-up to the midterm voting on Tuesday, 3 November, and that he could not ignore the timing.

“I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend I cannot read a calendar.”

How the investigation began

An FBI agent testified last week that the probe started after Trump's primetime address on election security in July, in which Trump said the bureau would examine whether intelligence agencies had withheld information on alleged Chinese meddling in the 2020 election. The day after that address, FBI Director Kash Patel directed the bureau's Kansas City field office to scrutinize Floris, who had questioned an FBI intelligence report saying China sought to influence the 2020 vote. Faruqui noted that Patel commissioned and closely monitored the probe, and the same agent said he personally feared it would be seen as political. Floris and Benavides had served on an FBI taskforce studying foreign influence in American politics, created after the 2016 election when officials worried Russia had tried to interfere. Before the 2020 vote, that taskforce had warned Russia could run another disinformation campaign to help Trump by boosting claims about the laptop.

What happens next

The Justice Department could appeal the ruling or try to obtain an indictment from a grand jury to revive the case. Representatives for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office prosecuted the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Trump and Republicans in Congress had long criticized Floris and Benavides for their work securing the 2020 election, which Trump claims was stolen from him. The dismissal adds to recent setbacks for the department, where judges and grand juries have repeatedly declined to back cases against people Trump has targeted. Whether prosecutors pursue a new indictment remains open.