WASHINGTON — Defence lawyers urged a U.S. federal judge Thursday to dismiss a criminal complaint charging two former FBI officials with making false statements to Congress about Hunter Biden, calling the case an overtly political prosecution aimed at placating U.S. President Donald Trump.
The arguments capped a days-long hearing in which lawyers for the former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, sought to cast the case -- one in a series of high-profile U.S. Justice Department actions before next week’s midterm voting -- as legally defective and tainted by politics.
The hearing included testimony that the investigation was ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel and that it was opened on the heels of a primetime election security speech by Trump in which the Republican rehashed long-running 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. She, along with Benavides, is accused of falsely downplaying their knowledge of a laptop that the U.S. Justice Department says Hunter Biden dropped off at a computer repair shop in 2019 and that was publicized a year later in a revelation that shook the final weeks of the presidential race.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui did not immediately rule on the defence lawyers’ request.
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