Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress About Hunter Biden Investigations

Two former senior FBI officials surrendered Friday on arrest warrants after being charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in 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, were each charged with one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, under 18 U.S.C. 1001(a)(2). The charges stem from testimony the two gave in 2023 to the House Judiciary Committee, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Floris led the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022, and Benavides served as the task force’s section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election, the Justice Department said. The task force, created in 2017, led the FBI’s work to protect the 2020 election from foreign malign influence and has since been dissolved.

What prosecutors say the testimony got wrong

Both defendants told the Judiciary Committee that the task force was not involved in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden, according to the Justice Department. Floris told the committee she was involved in no discussions about Hunter Biden while she was at the task force. Benavides testified that he only learned the FBI had Hunter Biden’s laptop from reading a Wikipedia article in 2023.

Prosecutors say the record contradicts both accounts. Evidence shows Floris discussed the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year, both within the task force and with others in the FBI, the Justice Department said. Benavides, by contrast, regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the lead-up to the 2020 election, according to the department.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said lying to Congress by senior FBI agents strikes at the country’s democratic system. “When senior officials entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s security choose deception over duty, they undermine the very institutions they swore to uphold,” Pirro said. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department will continue identifying and prosecuting those who break federal law.

Defense response and the election calendar

Lawyers for Floris said the charges were based on the “say-so of politicians, not on the facts,” and said the reasons for charging her were unjust, Reuters reported. A lawyer for Benavides could not immediately be reached for comment, according to Reuters. Charges in a complaint are only allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The charges arrive less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that the charges grew out of an investigation into the since-dissolved task force, and said one of the defendants was on record privately claiming to be running a shadow government during the 2020 election.

Reporting based on coverage by the U.S. Department of Justice, Reuters, CNN and USA Today.