Judge Trashes DOJ Attempt to Add More Charges Over Hunter Biden Laptop

A federal judge tore into Department of Justice prosecutors Tuesday for attempting to file a new criminal complaint alleging that two ex-FBI agents had lied to Congress during the investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop. At a hearing, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui refused to rubber-stamp a superseding complaint, which would have added an obstruction charge against former intelligence analyst Nikki Floris, who ran the intelligence division at the Washington field office, and Bradley Benavides, a former deputy assistant director for counterintelligence.Faruqui told the prosecutors that if they wanted to file a superseding complaint, then a judge would first have to find probable cause that a crime had actually been committed. Instead, the government had transmitted the complaint in the middle of the night and expected the judge to sign it. Faruqui said that he believed the government had broken precedent by seeking a superseding complaint without first receiving a judge’s signature. “I’m concerned with your view as to what the law is,” he said. “Why today, on this one case, have you changed the entire history of how you charge cases?”After Floris and Benavides surrendered on arrest warrants last week, Faruqui had ordered a hearing on Tuesday in order to establish probable cause for the initial complaint. Notably, the DOJ did not obtain a grand jury indictment against the ex-officials.On Monday night, the government submitted an unsworn affidavit it claimed would support an additional obstruction charge. Faruqui refused to sign the complaint without reviewing it or finding probable cause, and proceeded to hold the hearing on just the first complaint. Read more about the lawsuit:Attorney General Todd Blanche’s July 2025 interviews with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell were reportedly a calculated effort to steer public blowback from the Epstein files away from Donald Trump.House Judiciary Committee Democrats released a 50-page report on Monday accusing the Trump administration of a vast cover-up of the president’s involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal sex schemes. The report cites the experiences of 11 women, FBI records, and documents released through the Epstein Files Transparency Act. But one detail in the sprawling investigation hinted at an explicit attempt by Blanche to keep Maxwell from implicating the president in Epstein’s crimes.Blanche notably did not ask Maxwell any questions about a certain Jane Doe, despite the fact that she was on the FBI’s radar for alleging that Trump attempted to orally rape her and subsequently punched her in the head when she was 14 years old.At one point in the interview, Blanche vaguely mentioned testimony that alleged Epstein and Trump were involved with a 14-year-old, asking if Maxwell recalled “any obviously under-18 women coming to give him a massage?”Maxwell volunteered that she believed Blanche was “talking about Jane.” But Blanche didn’t bite, instead responding simply, “yeah”—evidence that he was aware of the victim’s accusations.As soon as Maxwell began to address Jane’s claims, Blanche “cut her off and instructed her not to share specifics,” according to the report. At other points, Blanche interrupted Maxwell to redirect her attention away from Jane’s allegations, arguing that he didn’t want to “get into… he said, she said.”“Absolutely, not. I’m not—I don’t want to go there either,” Maxwell responded, adding, “I’m not going to do that.”Maxwell tried to independently mention Jane later in the interview but was again shut down by Blanche, who abruptly cut her off to say he didn’t want to “talk about individuals.”“The whole point of the conversation was not to uncover information but to create a conspiracy of silence and strategically deter Ghislaine Maxwell from sharing information that was not public at the time regarding the relationship between Trump and Epstein,” the report alleges.Read more about the Democrats’ report:Flávio Bolsonaro has fled to the United States after losing Brazil’s presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil on Sunday, according to multiple outlets.Bolsonaro’s allies reported his escape to CNN Brasil, and Reuters also confirmed he is headed to the United States, citing two sources.Brazilian outlet O Globo reported that the far-right senator “was convinced he could be arrested.” While both Bolsonaro’s departure point and destination are uncertain, another Brazilian outlet, Metropoles, reported that he was on his way to Florida to seek asylum. Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is currently serving out house arrest in Brazil for attempting his own version of January 6. He also fled to Florida in late 2022 briefly before his arrest.Bolsonaro, who has still not conceded the election to Lula, had his passport cancelled by the Brazilian Supreme Court due to an active money laundering case against him. He had until 11 a.m. Tuesday to turn his passport in, but of course didn’t show—fueling questions about his whereabouts.The Trump administration has been quite friendly to Bolsonaro’s family and antagonistic towards Lula’s left-leaning government.Neither Bolsonaro nor the U.S. State Department have made a public statement. The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigration judges can’t postpone deportation cases, giving President Trump another tool in his mass deportation agenda.The court denied an emergency request to reinstate administrative closure, the practice that allows judges to temporarily delay deportation cases, after the Trump administration made an agreement with the state of Texas to end it in June. The request came from three cities—Baltimore; New Haven, Connecticut; and Columbus, Ohio—and from nonprofit legal aid organization Centro ⁠Legal de la Raza.The court’s denial was one sentence long without any explanation, a standard practice for emergency requests, and there were no reported dissents.The agreement to end administrative closure was made in federal court in Texas on the same day the state sued to challenge the practice. A judge also approved the agreement the same day, which the plaintiffs cited in their lawsuit as proof the White House colluded with Texas to get rid of the rule.“The need for interim relief is ​underscored by the collusion that infected this suit from its inception,” the cities and organization wrote.Administrative closure used to be common, with immigration judges using the tool to clear packed dockets, especially when a person had proceedings that could prevent their deportation such as a visa petition or appeal of a criminal conviction. Conservative politicians in places like Texas argue that the practice allows immigrants without legal status to stay in the country indefinitely.The Biden administration tried to make the practice permanent in 2024, but after Trump returned to the White House, the Department of Justice announced it would no longer defend administrative closure. Tuesday’s ruling follows Friday’s federal appeals court decision that immigrants aren’t entitled to bond hearings. In less than a week, the Trump administration has successfully eroded immigration law in order to deport more people. More on the courts and Trump:U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz got into a screaming match with Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla on Tuesday, after Parrilla approached Waltz’s podium mid-speech and called him a liar.This comes as the U.N. prepares to vote on whether to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba, the longest-running economic war and trade embargo in modern history. Parrilla has accused the U.S. of pressuring other countries into voting against a condemnation of the embargo, even as the most recent fuel blockade has led to the collapse of the once-revered Cuban medical system, doubling the infant mortality rate and putting millions of Cubans at risk. Waltz spent the entirety of his speech Tuesday calling Cuba’s government corrupt, accusing its leaders of having a private island and Rolex collections, and blaming them for their country’s current situation—even as the U.S continues to block fuel from reaching the island. Parrilla interrupted Waltz’s speech by calling for a point of order, arguing that the rules of the General Assembly had been violated, referencing Rule 71, which holds that “a representative may rise to a point of order, and the point of order shall be immediately decided by the President in accordance with the rules of procedure.”The U.S. Permanent Representative Mike Waltz is a disgrace to what it means to be a diplomat. The man talk, walks, and acts like a character from the film Idiocracy. Cuba will not stay idly as this person eviscerates the principles of the United Nations.…— David Ramírez Álvarez 🇨🇺 (@DvidTwit) October 27, 2026 Waltz disagreed, saying that Parrilla just didn’t “like” the points he was making. “He doesn’t like the hard truths,” he said as Parrilla began to approach the podium, still demanding that his point of order be recognized. “You can come and intimidate all you want, I ask you to back away from this podium!”Waltz then turned back to General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman.“Mr. President, this individual needs to back away from this podium, he’s not going to intimidate me in the United States of America like he tries to do to political prisoners! I’m the representative of the United States of America, back up!”“You are a liar!” Parrilla retorted.“Back away! … Do you understand who you’re dealing with?” Waltz threatened while Parrilla continued to call him a liar. “This is the United States of America. Back up.” The meeting was then suspended.NEW: @USAmbUN Mike Waltz just got into a shouting match on the floor of the general assembly with Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla"He's not going to intimidate me in the United States of America, like he tries to intimidate political prisoners," Waltz… pic.twitter.com/DgZZ4v8w7w— Josh Christenson (@jchristenson_) October 27, 2026 While President Obama loosened many of the embargo’s restrictions during his tenure, President Trump doubled down on them—especially in his second term when Cuban American Marco Rubio became Secretary of State. The fuel blockade has induced food and water shortages, daily blackouts, a mass exodus from the country, and a medicine shortage that has forced Cubans to buy lifesaving drugs off the black market. Even ventilators keeping premature babies alive aren’t working. The U.S. has continued to insist that these sanctions are targeting Cuba’s Communist government, but they are obviously having direct negative impacts on the Cuban people. Even still, Waltz’s outburst indicates that the Trump administration has no intention of loosening the economic “noose” on Cuba anytime soon.