Judge strikes new obstruction charge against former FBI officials; hearing on false-statements case continues

By Ezra Whitfield

WASHINGTON — A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday struck a new obstruction charge the Justice Department filed against two former FBI officials accused of lying to Congress, ruling that prosecutors had filed an unsigned superseding complaint that no judge had reviewed. The preliminary hearing on the original false-statements charges resumes Wednesday.

The Justice Department charged Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides last week with making false statements to the House Judiciary Committee about what they knew of the government’s investigations involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, as The Inquisitor reported. The original complaint, which a magistrate judge reviewed and signed, remains in place, CBS News reported.

Hunter Biden, who is not a party to the case, earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1992.

Prosecutor John Borchert of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, told the court the overnight filing adding a charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding was a new approach, acknowledging “this has never been done before,” and offered to have the complaint signed during the hearing, NBC News reported. The government’s position is that the two officials misled lawmakers about their knowledge of the laptop investigation. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui said he did not doubt that the prosecution had acted in good faith.

Faruqui declined the offer and ordered the superseding complaint struck from the record. He said “we have never had complaints filed that are unsigned,” called the filing “inappropriate” and said it “harms the defendants,” according to CBS. The Justice Department may still seek new charges through the normal process, CBS reported, and the court docket was later updated to say the filings had been entered “in error.”

Agent testifies about how the case began

After the ruling, the hearing on the original complaint continued with testimony from FBI Special Agent Bryan Witt of the bureau’s Kansas City field office, who signed the affidavit supporting the charges.

Witt testified that the case was assigned to him in July through the FBI’s chain of command after FBI Director Kash Patel directed the Kansas City office to look into Floris and others, NBC and CBS reported. He said the inquiry initially focused on a 2020 investigation out of the FBI’s Albany field office into alleged Chinese election interference, a matter Republican lawmakers have criticized, and later shifted to the officials’ statements about Hunter Biden.

Witt said he had called the assignment a “huge distraction” from a public corruption case and added, “I had concerns that this would be viewed as political.” He said the investigation was prioritized and that he had check-ins from senior officials, including Patel and an FBI deputy director. Asked whether Patel had pressed him, he said Patel had not, NBC reported.

What comes next

Witt is expected to return to the stand Wednesday, and the judge is expected to rule afterward on whether the original complaint meets the probable-cause standard, The Hill reported. The Inquisitor previewed the hearing Monday.

Charges are accusations, and Floris and Benavides are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The Inquisitor has asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department and the FBI for comment.