DOJ charges two former FBI officials with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden laptop probe
Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, former leaders of the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, were each charged with one count of making false statements over 2023 testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. They appeared in federal court Friday and will return Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday charged two former FBI officials with lying to Congress about their involvement in investigations tied to Hunter Biden’s laptop, according to CNN and court documents.
Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, both former senior Washington-based intelligence specialists, were each charged with one count of making a false statement. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said in court Friday that the charges relate to “Hunter Biden’s laptop and allegations around that.”
The charges stem from statements the pair made to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023, when Republicans were questioning the role of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force in the Hunter Biden investigations.
A charging document unsealed Friday in federal district court in Washington accuses the pair of concealing the task force’s engagement with and communications about the Hunter Biden investigations and impeding the congressional investigation.
D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the charges in a social media post Friday, saying the alleged false statements concerned the defendants’ roles on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election.
“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,” Pirro said.
What prosecutors say the pair did
FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that the charges grew out of an investigation into the since-disbanded task force. Patel said on X that Floris led the task force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022, and that Benavides served as its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.
“Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony,” Patel said.
According to Pirro and the criminal complaint, Benavides told Congress he learned about the investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop from Wikipedia. Patel said the charges show that “lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system” and that “no one is above the law.”
Floris and Benavides made their first court appearance Friday morning in Washington’s federal district court. They will not be detained while they await trial, and a hearing is set for Tuesday morning.
Faruqui described both defendants as having decorated records and told prosecutors the alleged events happened years ago. He also said the charge is rare, that it was brought by complaint rather than approved by a grand jury, and that a federal charge will follow the defendants for the rest of their lives.
Defense says charges are political
Defense attorneys for Floris said after the hearing that she is being falsely accused “on the say-so of politicians” and described her as “a patriot.”
“It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election,” the lawyers said in a statement. “The government’s reasons for charging Nikki are as transparent as they are unjust: to push a false narrative for a shot at political politics.”
The Foreign Influence Task Force was created during Trump’s first administration to track foreign influence campaigns targeting U.S. elections after Russia’s 2016 operations. The roughly 30-person unit shared intelligence about foreign activity with social media companies. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolved it in February 2025, saying the move would free resources and end risks of prosecutorial overreach.
Former U.S. officials who worked on election defense criticized the charges. “I’m amazed that the administration is focused on this, fighting imaginary adversaries of the past and perceived political grievances,” one former official told CNN, adding that Floris and Benavides were “dedicated professionals” who helped counter efforts by Russia, China and Iran.
The charges land less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Reporting based on coverage by CNN.
