Hunter Biden FBI Agents Case Dismissed: What the Judge Said

Last updated: Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, 11:55 a.m. ET. This is a developing story.

A federal judge in Washington on Monday threw out the Justice Department's case against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigation, and he didn't hold back about why.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui dismissed the entire criminal complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, finding the government hadn't shown probable cause, CBS News and NBC News reported. The Associated Press, ABC News, The Washington Post and Axios also reported the dismissal within the hour.

Hunter Biden FBI agents case dismissed: what the judge said

Faruqui ruled from the bench. CBS described the oral decision as scathing and about an hour long. He found the complaint lacked probable cause and accused the Justice Department of pursuing a weaponized, political case.

The case, he said, "erodes public confidence in the Department of Justice," according to CBS.

He had already shown his anger before Monday. CBS reported that the department first filed an unsworn, unsigned superseding complaint against the pair on the public court docket after midnight. Faruqui sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

When it was over, Floris and Benavides hugged and cried outside the courtroom. Former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and other former FBI leaders were with them, CBS said.

What the two ex-FBI officials were accused of

Each faced one count of lying to Congress. The charges went back to their testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in 2023.

According to NBC, the complaint said they lied about their roles on the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force and "about their roles in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations." CBS summed it up as falsely suggesting to the committee that they weren't aware of the government's investigations surrounding Hunter Biden. CBS described the case as centered on their involvement in the investigation into his laptop.

Both had worked on security issues for the 2020 presidential election, NBC reported, and both had drawn heavy criticism from close allies of President Donald Trump.

A note on names: NBC calls her Nikki Floris. CBS used Nicole Floris.

Why the case was in trouble before today

Prosecutors never took this case to a grand jury. They charged Floris and Benavides by criminal complaint, NBC reported. Grand jurors in Washington have pushed back on politically charged cases against people Trump sees as enemies. Most recently they refused to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide, according to NBC.

Last week's preliminary hearing didn't help the government either. An FBI agent testified that he was worried the investigation, which NBC said was directed by FBI Director Kash Patel, would be viewed as "political." The agent also said a prosecutor on the case had admitted in a phone call last week that the complaint was flawed.

That prosecutor is Carlton Davis, a top aide to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. NBC reported that Davis is a former Republican Capitol Hill staffer who also worked on the failed attempt to indict six sitting members of Congress over a social media video Trump disliked.

What we don't know yet

There's a lot still open as of late Monday morning:

• Whether the Justice Department will appeal or try to charge the two again some other way, such as going to a grand jury.
• Any formal response from the department, the FBI or Pirro's office.
• Whether Faruqui will put out a written opinion.

We'll add those details once they're confirmed by reporting or court filings.

The ruling lands a day before the midterms. If you're voting Tuesday, our guide to whether Election Day is a holiday, plus poll hours covers the basics. In a separate case on Sunday, a federal judge tossed the DOJ's Alaska Senate lawsuit.