Tuesday’s unused overnight complaint already ran. This is Tuesday’s unused 11 a.m. ruling. A listing is not a finding. A strike is not an acquittal.
Associated Press / PBS, Tuesday, Washington: U.S. Magistrate Zia Faruqui rejected an amended criminal complaint filed overnight by the Justice Department that added a new obstruction charge against former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. AP: such charging documents require a judge’s sign-off that probable cause exists. This one went straight to the docket with no court approval. CBS, Sarah N. Lynch and Sophia Vlahakis, 6:37 p.m. ET: Faruqui said he would order the new version “struck from the record.” The docket was later updated to say the Justice Department’s filings were entered “in error.” The original Friday complaint is still intact. CNBC: “I am not going to bless it as a superseding complaint.” NBC: “Everything is a sideshow on top of a sideshow.” Those are the judge’s lines. They are not a verdict. They are not Tuesday noon’s unused filing reprinted as first-day news.
Same unused hearing: CBS: “We have never had complaints filed that are unsigned,” Faruqui said, calling it “inappropriate” and saying it “harms the defendants.” “I am unaware of that ever happening before in this court.” Prosecutor John Borchert asked to have the agent swear the new paper in the courtroom. Defense called that “Kafkaesque.” Faruqui analogized it to serving as a notary. He denied it. CNBC: “This has to get to a grand jury.” A grand-jury line is not an indictment we invent. CBS: the court still proceeded on the original lying-to-Congress complaint. NBC / CBS: that preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue Wednesday. A Wednesday listing is not a probable-cause finding this desk invents at noon. Floris and Benavides were arrested Friday and released. All defendants presumed innocent. Tuesday already filed unused 48. Sunday already filed unused Lucas. Monday leftover Comey information is not this strike.
What this means for you
If you needed Tuesday’s unused crime, it still stands as an overnight superseding complaint, not a verdict. If you needed this noon’s unused paper, Faruqui struck that overnight add-on. The original complaint is still there. If you needed today’s continued hearing as a finding, wait. If the week is too heavy, 988.
Bottom line: Struck. Not blessed. Original still intact. Not convicted. Not 48 reprinted. Not Tuesday’s overnight filing reprinted as a finding.
GLHR NEWS explains the news. Not investment, tax, or trading advice. Do your own work before you act.
