A federal judge tossed out four of the five criminal charges against a former Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulSecond GOP senator to quarantine after exposure to coronavirus GOP senator to quarantine after coronavirus exposure The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by National Industries for the Blind - Trump seeks to flip 'Rage' narrative; Dems block COVID-19 bill MORE (R-Ky.) campaign aide Friday afternoon and all of the charges against a second.

Judge John Jarvey from the Southern District of Iowa threw out four counts against Jesse Benton and John Tate, two longtime Paul family aides. Both were among the three people charge in August in connection with allegations that an Iowa politician was bribed to endorse Paul’s father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), during his 2012 presidential bid.

The only remaining charge against Benton is that he made a false statement to the FBI, while all of the charges against the third man, Dimitrios Kesari, remain.

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News of the ruling was first reported by Politico.

The judge decided to drop those charges after he ruled that the government had included statements from Benton and Tate in grand jury evidence that it had agreed not to present.

Benton is married to Rand Paul’s niece and previously served as then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellPelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Senate GOP aims to confirm Trump court pick by Oct. 29: report Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes MORE’s (R-Ky.) campaign manager in 2014, before he resigned amid rumors of a federal investigation. He also helped run Rand Paul’s Senate campaign in 2010.

When the charges were announced in August, Benton’s lawyer Roscoe Howard, Jr., slammed the indictment as “character assassination for political gain” and noted that the indictment was announced just before the first GOP presidential debate.

Howard has not responded to a request for comment.