A federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against two former senior FBI officials accused of lying to Congress about former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

On Monday, US Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ruled that prosecutors, under the direction of the Department of Justice, lacked sufficient evidence to move the case forward and expressed concern that the investigation was rushed, overtly political and dogged by “critical mistakes”.

He said it “cannot be described as anything other than weaponization”.

“I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend I cannot read a calendar,” Faruqui said in court, referring to its proximity to the midterms. “I will not lobotomize myself that way.”

The case suggested that Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides misled Congress in 2023 by lying about their knowledge of and involvement in an investigation into a laptop the Justice Department said was dropped off at a Delaware tech shop in 2019 by Hunter Biden.

An FBI agent who worked on the case testified that the investigation into Floris and Benavides began last July under the direction of FBI Director Kash Patel. The Associated Press news agency reported that the case echoed complaints by President Donald Trump and his allies that potentially damaging information about the Biden family was suppressed during the 2020 election, which Trump lost.

The Justice Department may still have the chance to pursue a grand jury indictment of the former FBI officials.

Nonetheless, Faruqui’s early ruling and concerns about the case hamper the Justice Department’s case.

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In a preliminary hearing last week, the judge pointed out that the Justice Department was not acting in accordance with legal procedure when it filed an amended complaint with an additional charge without first clearing the charge with the court — something he said he had never seen before.