Judge dismisses new obstruction charge against former FBI officials
A Washington magistrate judge threw out an overnight-filed obstruction allegation against former FBI employees Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, criticizing the Justice Department's unconventional filing process.
A federal magistrate judge in Washington dismissed an obstruction charge added to a superseding criminal complaint against former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. The judge said prosecutors created a “new category of charging” without following standard procedures, noting the complaint was filed overnight, unsigned and unsworn.
Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui rejected the request to add the charge, stating that the Justice Department had not adhered to the practice used in “every other case in the history of this district.” While he did not question the prosecutors’ good faith, he expressed concern that “this system is being misused by people of higher levels,” adding, “Everything is a sideshow on top of a sideshow.”
“In the middle of the night, the government filed an unsigned and unsworn complaint attempting to fix the issues with their original charge … and adding a new charge just as meritless as the first one,” Floris’ attorneys said, describing the filing as unprecedented in their combined decades of DOJ service.
Prosecutor John Borchert acknowledged that the filing method “has never been done before,” and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told reporters that the decision to add a charge rested with the judge.
An FBI special agent testified that the investigation into Floris and Benavides began after a directive from FBI Director Kash Patel and that he feared the case could be perceived as political. The hearing will continue on Wednesday.