Two Former FBI Officials Face Charges They Lied to Congress About Hunter Biden Inquiries

Two former senior FBI officials were charged Friday with lying to Congress about their part in the bureau's investigations of Hunter Biden, in a case brought by criminal complaint about two weeks before the midterm elections.

Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered on arrest warrants and appeared in federal court in Washington, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said. Each is charged with one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch.

Both worked on the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, which led the bureau's effort to protect the 2020 election from foreign interference and has since been dissolved. Floris served as the task force's deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.

Prosecutors say the two misled the House Judiciary Committee when it interviewed them in 2023 about the task force's role in the Hunter Biden investigations. Floris was interviewed in July of that year and Benavides in September. Each was warned that lying to Congress is a crime, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The complaint quotes Floris as answering "I did not" when asked whether she had any involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation. Benavides, asked when he learned of an ongoing criminal investigation related to the laptop, answered "The Wikipedia page," the complaint says.

Prosecutors say records show otherwise. The office said Floris discussed the bureau's Hunter Biden investigations routinely for more than a year, and that Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the run-up to the 2020 election. The complaint says the task force hosted classified briefings for agents and prosecutors on the case in which both took part.

"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 Jeanine Pirro said in a statement.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the dissolved task force. The office said an affidavit filed with the complaint cites documents, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts that contradict the officials' testimony. It also noted that charges in a complaint are allegations and that both defendants are presumed innocent.

The decision to charge three-year-old conduct by complaint, rather than through a grand jury indictment, drew questions in court. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui called the approach strange and rejected a request from prosecutors to put off a preliminary hearing for two weeks or more. He ordered both sides back at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"This is the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads," Faruqui said. "This will follow them for the rest of their lives."

Ron Safer, a lawyer for Benavides, told the court the government had held the information for years and asked for a preliminary hearing as soon as possible to test whether there was probable cause.

Floris's lawyers said in a statement that she served the country as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years and had been falsely accused. "It's no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election," they said.

Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, was the subject of FBI investigations over his business dealings and the contents of a laptop he left at a Delaware repair shop. He was convicted on three felony gun charges and pleaded guilty in a separate case to tax offenses before his father pardoned him.

The midterm elections are Nov. 3.