A federal investigator's courtroom testimony cast an unflattering new light on the Trump administration's prosecution of two former FBI officials.
FBI agent Bryan Witt acknowledged in federal court on Tuesday that the case against ex-FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides was commonly regarded inside his office as a "witch hunt," Politico reported.
Floris' attorney Margaret Donovan asked Witt whether he had ever used that phrase to describe the case. Witt said he could not remember doing so but conceded that some of his coworkers may have.
"I think people generally viewed it as that around the office," said Witt, who added that he complained to others that the assignment pulled him away from his public corruption work in Missouri. He also told the court he worried the case would look political.
The two former officials, who once oversaw FBI personnel investigating foreign influence efforts tied to President Donald Trump and his campaign, are accused of lying to House investigators in 2023 about their roles in probes involving the laptop of Hunter Biden.
Witt testified that FBI Director Kash Patel opened the investigation a day after Trump delivered a July national address accusing intelligence and law enforcement officials of meddling in U.S. elections.
"It was announced the night before and I was tasked with this the next morning," Witt said. He testified that investigators "were being pushed" at times, with high-level check-ins from the bureau's deputy director and Patel himself.
The testimony came at a hearing where U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui tore into prosecutors for docketing a new complaint seeking an added obstruction charge without first getting a judge's sign-off. Faruqui ordered the complaint struck and warned that the government's unusual moves were "throwing enormous amounts of gasoline onto this fire."
Mary Dohrmann, another attorney for Floris, told the court that "the evidence is mounting that this prosecution is about some political football and not the law and not the facts."
Patel has branded the unit Floris and Benavides led as "corrupt," while Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., pledged to "bring the hammer of justice down on" the pair.
The hearing is set to resume Wednesday.