I agree with you on ‘bogus writings’ however I believe Maccabees was part of the canon for all Christians until its removal for Protestants during the Reformation.
I think it is included because it is in the Septuagint, used by early Christians.
In any case I wouldn’t take Josephus (if we’re thinking of the same Josephus) as an authority on the canon.
I didn’t cite Josephus as a religious authority on the canon, he was not a Rabbi, he was only a historian. I cited him because, he, having lived in the 1st century, related what the Jews held to be inspired - not he himself - at that time. Maccabbes was not among the books he mentioned.
This is not to say that there isn’t historical value in the Maccabbees, I just don’t think it is inspired. The Jews probably didn’t hold it inspired in the 1st century - this is just my opinion - because of all the Pseudipgraphic writings around in their day that were not inspired. Perhaps they thought Maccabbes to have been embellished by later false additions, inserted by these same type of Jews who had written all these “pseudo” books.