Former FBI officials ask judge to dismiss Hunter Biden laptop charges as politically motivated

Lawyers for two former FBI officials asked a federal judge on Thursday to throw out a criminal complaint accusing them of lying to Congress about Hunter Biden.The defense argued the prosecution is openly political, brought to satisfy President Donald Trump.The case against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides is one of a series of high-profile Justice Department actions filed ahead of next week's midterm voting.Two former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about their participation in investigations involving Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, are due back in court (AFP/Getty)Their legal team spent days at a hearing trying to portray the case as both legally flawed and politically contaminated.Testimony at the hearing included an account that FBI Director Kash Patel ordered the investigation.The hearing also heard that the case was opened shortly after a primetime election security speech by Trump, in which the Republican revisited long-standing grievances about his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.“A political prosecution is always going to make for a shaky foundation for a criminal case,” said Mary Dohrmann, a lawyer for Floris.The hearing also heard that the case was opened shortly after a primetime election security speech by Trump, in which the Republican revisited long-standing grievances about his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden (Getty)Floris and Benavides are accused of downplaying what they knew about a laptop.The Justice Department says Hunter Biden dropped the laptop off at a computer repair shop in 2019.It was publicized a year later, in a revelation that shook the final weeks of the presidential race.The FBI director was said to be keenly interested in the investigationThe hearing this week featured testimony from Bryan Witt, an FBI special agent who investigated the case.He said he regarded it as a “huge distraction” from his other work and appreciated that the investigation could be seen as political.Witt said Patel had mandated the investigation and taken an unusual interest in it, requesting and receiving regular updates.He also testified that the FBI had been directed to investigate Floris after a July primetime speech in which Trump amplified debunked theories about his 2020 election loss.Among the grievances the White House raised at the time was a disputed FBI intelligence report about an alleged effort by China to influence the election on Biden's behalf.The FBI recalled the memo after concluding the information was not sufficiently corroborated.The Justice Department says Hunter Biden dropped the laptop off at a computer repair shop in 2019 (White House)Floris has long been singled out by Trump's Republican allies for her role in that recall decision.A key decision looms next weekU.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui did not immediately rule on the defense lawyers' request.A dismissal of the complaint would not prevent the Justice Department from seeking an indictment.But that could be a challenge, given that grand juries in the nation's capital have repeatedly refused to approve charges in politically sensitive cases.Even if the judge sustains the complaint, prosecutors would presumably still need to secure a grand jury indictment for the case to proceed.The alleged false statements were made in 2023 before the House Judiciary Committee.President Joe Biden (L) and President-elect Donald Trump arrive for the inauguration ceremony in 2025 (AFP/Getty)The Republican-led panel was conducting its own investigation into Hunter Biden at the time.According to the complaint, both officials downplayed their knowledge of the laptop while taking part in numerous discussions about it.A Justice Department prosecutor, James Kirkpatrick, argued Thursday that the two officials had a motive to minimize what they knew about Hunter Biden and the laptop, because his father was president when they were questioned.Kirkpatrick noted that both led a since-disbanded FBI task force set up to monitor foreign influence in elections.He suggested the two may have been leery of discussing Hunter Biden and the laptop since, he said, the task force did not publicly correct a narrative from some Democrats and former intelligence officials that the laptop might have been connected to Russian disinformation.Trump's then-intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, said after the laptop was publicized that there were no signs of foreign involvement in any way.“At the end of the day, the FITF got it wrong,” Kirkpatrick said, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Task Force. “They didn’t quash the narrative that this laptop was the product of Russian disinformation. They didn't correct the record.”