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

Two former senior FBI officials surrendered in Washington on Friday morning on charges that they lied to Congress about the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations. Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, are each charged with one count of making false statements to Congress, under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), which carries a maximum of five years in prison. The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Both held senior roles on the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, the unit created after Russia’s 2016 election interference that led the bureau’s work to secure the 2020 election; the Trump Justice Department disbanded it in early 2025. Floris led it as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022; Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. Prosecutors say the FBI had several investigations into Hunter Biden in the run-up to that election in which the task force participated.

The complaint says that when the House Judiciary Committee interviewed both officials in 2023, each testified that the task force was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Floris told the committee she was involved in no discussions about Hunter Biden while at the task force. Benavides testified that he learned of the FBI’s possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop only from reading a Wikipedia article in 2023. Prosecutors say documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts contradict that testimony: they say Floris discussed the investigations routinely for more than a year, and that Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials before the 2020 election. Pirro’s office said the evidence shows the pair’s involvement in “helping shape the public narrative about Hunter Biden’s laptop right before the election.”

“Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system but 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 in the announcement. Patel said one of the two is “on record privately claiming to be ‘running a shadow government’ during the 2020 election in her role on the FITF,” and that “anyone who abuses their position of public trust will be held accountable.”

At their first appearance Friday before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, both were released while the case proceeds. Faruqui noted the charges relate to “Hunter Biden’s laptop and allegations around that,” described both defendants as having “sparkling backgrounds,” observed that the charge is rare and was brought by complaint rather than by a grand jury, and told prosecutors the alleged conduct happened years ago and they should be ready to move forward. He set a preliminary hearing for Tuesday, October 27, at which the defendants can challenge the basis for the case.

Floris’s lawyers said the charges rest on the “say-so of politicians, not on the facts,” calling her a patriot who is falsely accused: “The government’s reasons for charging Nikki are as transparent as they are unjust: to push a false narrative for a shot at political points.” They added: “It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election.” A lawyer for Benavides could not immediately be reached. The charges come 11 days before the November 3 midterms, and they are part of what the Justice Department describes as an ongoing investigation into the disbanded task force.

Charges in a complaint are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (announcement); The Associated Press; Reuters; CNN; The Wall Street Journal.