DOJ: 2 fmr FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about involvement in Hunter Biden’s laptop probe

Two former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) senior officials have surrendered to arrest warrants on charges of making false statements to Congress about their involvement in the investigations into Hunter Biden’s laptop.
On Friday morning, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against former Deputy Assistant Director Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and former Section Chief Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, who were part of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which has since been dissolved.
The FITF led the bureau’s efforts to secure the 2020 election from foreign malign influence. Prior to the 2020 presidential election, the task force led several probes into the then-former vice president’s son.
In 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary interviewed both defendants about FITF’s role in the Hunter Biden investigations. Each defendant was warned that lying to Congress is a crime, the DOJ clarified.
Both defendants testified at the time that the task force was not involved in the investigations into Biden.
The DOJ said that evidence shows Floris had discussed the FBI’s investigation into the scrutinized laptop “routinely for more than a year” with those within the task force and with others in the FBI — contrary to her claim that she was involved in no discussions on the matter while serving in the task force.
Benavides did the same in the lead-up to the 2020 election, despite his assertion that he learned of the laptop from Wikipedia in 2023.
“Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their Congressional testimony,” said the DOJ, citing an affidavit submitted in support of the criminal complaint against the two ex-senior officials.
The statement of facts explained, for example, that on October 14, 2020, the New York Post published a story about the laptop, and both Floris and Benavides “assisted with the FBI’s response to press inquiries the same day.” Both received an email from the FBI Cyber Division with the subject “Ny post… morning answer?” and another from the Office of Congressional Affairs titled “SSCI Request – Hunter Biden Laptop.”
“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,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro asserted. “When senior officials entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s security choose deception over duty, they undermine the very institutions they swore to uphold. Today’s action makes clear that no one is above the law, and we will hold accountable all who obstruct the truth.”
“This morning two former FBI members of the now dissolved Foreign Influence Task Force, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, were taken into custody – charged with allegedly lying to Congress in 2023 on matters regarding investigations related to the 2020 election. One of these individuals is on record privately claiming to be ‘running a shadow government’ during the 2020 election,” added FBI Director Kash Patel. “As we’ve said repeatedly: weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI.”
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