A federal magistrate judge on Monday dismissed a criminal complaint charging two former senior FBI counterintelligence officials with lying to Congress about their roles in the Hunter Biden investigation, ruling the case lacked probable cause and appeared timed with the midterm election.

Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui called the Justice Department's case "slapdash" and said it lacked motive or direct evidence that Nikki Floris or Bradley Benavides had committed a crime. "Without motive, without direct evidence, I have nothing," he said during a hour-long oral ruling. "It's not close. It's nothing."

Faruqui added: "I am deeply troubled by what has happened in this case. What has transpired here can't be described as anything other than weaponization."

The dismissal came after a three-day evidentiary hearing. Throughout the proceedings, FBI Special Agent Bryan Witt testified the case was opened at the behest of FBI Director Kash Patel just one day after former President Donald Trump gave a televised speech in July accusing intelligence officials of engaging in a coverup to hide China's interference in the 2020 election and ordered the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions.

Throughout the investigation, senior officials including the FBI's deputy directors and Patel himself checked on the progress. Witt also acknowledged he feared the case might be viewed as political and that others in his FBI field office in Kansas City were concerned it was a witch hunt.

The case hinged on testimony Floris and Benavides provided to the House Judiciary Committee in July and September 2023. In those roles, Floris and Benavides provided defensive briefings to Sens. Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson in August 2020, and this ultimately led the House Judiciary Committee to summon the pair to testify about three years later.

To establish probable cause in a false statements case, prosecutors must demonstrate the defendants made false statements, did so knowingly and willfully, and that those statements were material. Faruqui ticked through each element, finding the government failed on all three.

He noted the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee had refused to allow FBI agents to interview congressional staffers who had been present for Floris and Benavides' testimony — a crucial step needed to establish materiality. Career prosecutors later realized the potentially fatal mistake. In a taped conversation released to defense lawyers, special counsel to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro Carlton Davis could be heard admitting: "I have one issue that I'm getting hammered on over here. I realize this is our f---up."

Faruqui also cited the Justice Department Manual, which stipulates prosecutors should not take overt investigative or prosecutorial steps intended to affect or influence the outcome of an election. "Why did this have to be charged in October 2026?" he asked, noting there was no concern the statute of limitations would expire soon. "There was simply no other event on the calendar, except for the midterm elections." He added: "I will not lobotomize myself in this way."

The two former officials embraced outside the courtroom after the decision. Floris cried tears of relief. They were flanked by former Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and Steve Jensen, the former head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, who came to support them.

"This case should have never been brought," said Margaret Donovan, one of Floris' attorneys, in a statement to reporters outside the courthouse. "This was a slapdash complaint, spaghetti at the wall, Hunter Biden conspiracy fever dream. But facts still matter in a courtroom."

The Justice Department said it disagrees with the magistrate's decision and is evaluating all options, including an appeal or seeking a grand jury indictment. A department spokesperson said the department's actions will be guided by the facts, the evidence and the law — not politics.

The unusual case, which began earlier this month, had seen prosecutors use an unsigned and unsworn superseding complaint to try to add new charges of obstructing Congress. The judge struck that superseding complaint from the record, saying it lacked proper judicial review.

Floris was a former top intelligence analyst in charge at the bureau's Washington Field Office, while Benavides was the former deputy assistant director at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. The criminal case against the two has been highly unusual since it first came to light, as prosecutors charged the pair via a criminal complaint — a charging document generally only used in felony cases posing exigent public safety or national security threats — rather than securing a grand jury indictment first.