DOJ Charges Former FBI Officials With Lying to Congress About Hunter Biden Laptop Probe

WASHINGTON — Two former senior FBI officials surrendered Friday on arrest warrants charging them with lying to Congress about the FBI's investigations into Hunter Biden, the Justice Department announced. Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, are each charged with making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(2), according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. Both made their first appearance in federal court in Washington on Friday morning and will not be detained as they await trial, CNN reported, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The charges stem from an investigation into the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, the now-dissolved unit that led the bureau's work against foreign malign influence in the 2020 election, the department said. Floris led the task force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022, and Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. Prosecutors say the two testified to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 that the task force was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations — Floris said she was involved in no discussions about Hunter Biden at the task force, and Benavides said he learned of the FBI's possession of Hunter Biden's laptop from a Wikipedia article in 2023 — while an affidavit supporting the complaint says documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts contradict that testimony, including evidence that Floris discussed the investigations routinely for more than a year and that Benavides discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the leadup to the 2020 election.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in the department's announcement that "when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it's time to bring the hammer of justice down on them." FBI Director Kash Patel said one of the defendants is on record privately claiming to be "running a shadow government" during the 2020 election, and Attorney General Todd Blanche said public servants "cannot lie to Congress and get away with it." Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui noted in court Friday that the charges are related to "Hunter Biden's laptop and allegations around that," CNN reported.

Defense attorneys for Floris said in a statement after her court appearance that she is being falsely accused "on the say-so of politicians" and "is a patriot," CNN reported. "It's no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election," the lawyers said. Judge Faruqui noted the charge is rare, was brought by complaint rather than a grand jury, and told prosecutors — who brought the case against two agents he described as having sparkling backgrounds — to be ready to move forward. The Justice Department's own announcement carries the standing caution: charges in a complaint are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.