Two former FBI officials accused of orchestrating Hunter Biden's laptop 'cover-up' were slapped with new charges filed by President Donald Trump's Justice Department - before a judge stepped in.

The two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, were charged with new 'obstruction' counts in a superseding complaint filed late Monday night. That includes allegedly obstructing a congressional proceeding and lying to lawmakers.

It stems from sworn testimony the agents gave to Congress three years ago as part of the Republican-led probe into then-President Joe Biden's troubled son Hunter. 

The agents appeared in court on Tuesday after the new charges were unveiled overnight. 

However, the judge overseeing the case in DC, Zia Faruqui, said he was 'concerned' with the government's late-night move done without his sign-off.

'We have never had complaints filed that are unsigned,' Faruqui said. 'It is inappropriate. It harms the defendants.'

'I am unaware of that ever happening before in this court,' he added. 'I am frustrated that I got it in the middle of the night. But I am much more concerned that it is filed on the public record.'

As a result, the judge ordered the new charges 'struck from the record' until the DOJ could re-file in the proper manner.

'I'm going to zoom out a little,' Faruqui said of the government's actions, which he described repeatedly during the first two hours of court as 'really concerning.'

'Everything is just a little sideshow on top of a little sideshow,' he said, 'and it’s hard to see the forest for the trees here.'

The superseding complaint claims the former agents 'knowingly and willfully provided materially false statements to the Committee about their respective awareness of and involvement in the FBI's investigations into Hunter Biden, and thereby corruptly obstructed, and impeded and endeavored to influence, obstruct, and impede the due proper administration of the law.'

Last week, the agents were each charged with one count of allegedly lying to Congress about their roles on the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, or FITF, and 'about their roles in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigation,' according to US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

They were charged by criminal complaint, which means that federal prosecutors had not yet secured an indictment in either case from a grand jury. That process requires a federal magistrate judge to sign off on a probable cause finding before prosecutors can proceed in pursuing the criminal complaint. 

The action sparked an outcry by Democrats about potential politicization of the judicial system with just days left until the midterm elections. 

 The DOJ's filing of the unsigned complaint - including additional charges - in the night adds fuel to that fire. 

Hunter's laptop, which was abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware and then obtained by former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, became a flashpoint in the run-up to the 2020 election, after its contents were reported by the New York Post. 

He was later convicted of felony gun charges and separate tax offenses, though he was pardoned by his father shortly before he left office. 

Floris and Benavides were charged with making false statements to the House Judiciary Committee about their roles on the task force and their involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation during separate testimonies in July 2023 and September 2023, respectively, according to a criminal complaint.

Floris told lawmakers she did 'not have any details' about the FBI's investigation into the laptop, while Benavides allegedly told lawmakers 'repeatedly' that he learned about the laptop from a Wikipedia page shortly before his testimony. 

The committee put out a simple post on X after the indictment last week: 'The cover-up didn't work.'

The case marks the latest in a string of instances that Justice Department officials have sidestepped longstanding internal guidance that cautions the department against taking public or overt investigative action in a 90-day period before an election.

The original charges against Floris and Benavides were unsealed just 10 days before the November midterms – where Republicans appear poised to cede control of one or both chambers of Congress.

The timing prompted concern from attorneys for the former agents, and the magistrate judge himself.

They asked Friday why federal prosecutors did not move on the alleged false statements charges much earlier, given that the conduct in question occurred more than three years ago.

Faruqui agreed – describing the process by which the charges were secured as 'strange.'

He also denied prosecutors' request to delay the preliminary hearing by more than two weeks.

'This is the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads,' he said, before ordering all parties back to court Tuesday morning.