Judge tosses DOJ case against ex-FBI officials accused of lying about Hunter Biden probe: Reports

Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism at the FBI Nikki Floris, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 22, 2019.Susan Walsh | APA federal judge on Monday blasted the Department of Justice for "weaponization" as he dismissed its case accusing two former FBI officials of lying to Congress about investigations into Hunter Biden, multiple news outlets reported.Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, in a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, reportedly tore into the DOJ over its "slapdash job" prosecuting ex-officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, saying he was "deeply troubled by what has happened here."Faruqui said the government lacked probable cause and failed to present evidence that the officials' statements before the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 were knowingly false, MS NOW reported. He also accused the DOJ of wrongly rushing the case ahead of the midterm election. The situation "cannot be described as anything other than weaponization," he said, according to MS NOW.Read more CNBC politics and policy coverageThe judge even apologized to the government's lawyers, calling it "incredibly unfair" that they were as...