DOJ’s Hunter Biden laptop prosecution hits a snag after a federal judge questions department’s unorthodox filing
Source: Fortune ·
A federal judge struck a new obstruction charge against two former FBI officials after prosecutors filed it without the required judicial approval.
From the source
A federal judge on Tuesday scolded the Justice Department for its unorthodox handling of a criminal case against two former FBI officials accused of making false statements to Congress about their knowledge of a laptop the Justice Department says belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. U.S. Magistrate Zia Faruqui struck from the record an amended criminal complaint filed in the middle of the night by the Justice Department that added a new obstruction charge against the two former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. Such charging documents require sign-off from a judge that probable cause exists that a crime was committed by a defendant, and this complaint lacked that. “It is not our court’s practice — and I think it is appropriately not our practice — that unsigned complaints are filed on the docket,” Faruqui said. He later added: “I want to know why the United States is reticent or averse to putting before a probable cause determination that you…