Two former senior FBI officials were charged Friday with allegedly making false statements to Congress about their roles in the investigation of Hunter Biden’s laptop during the final weeks before the 2020 presidential election.
Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, made their first court appearances Friday in Washington, DC, before federal Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui.
Each former official faces one count of allegedly lying to Congress about their work with the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and their involvement in the bureau’s Hunter Biden investigation, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said.
The charges were filed through criminal complaints, meaning federal prosecutors have not yet obtained grand jury indictments against either defendant.
Floris is a former intelligence analyst who led the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Benavides previously served as deputy assistant director of the bureau’s Counterintelligence Division.
Pirro’s decision to announce charges against two former senior FBI officials just 10 days before the midterm elections is highly unusual. Attorneys for Floris and Benavides asked Friday for a preliminary hearing to be scheduled as soon as “humanly possible” so a judge can determine whether the cases should proceed.
Hunter Biden and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, leave the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Court in Wilmington, Delaware, following opening statements in his felony gun trial
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro speaks at a press conference. Her office announced charges against two former FBI officials who allegedly lied to Congress in 2023, prompting questions about the timing and method of the prosecution
Then-FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Nikki Floris testifies before Congress in 2019 alongside Adam Hickey, a former Justice Department national security official
According to a criminal complaint, Floris and Benavides allegedly made false statements to the House Judiciary Committee during separate appearances in July 2023 and September 2023. Their testimony concerned their roles on the task force and their involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation.
The case is the latest example of the Justice Department moving past longstanding internal guidance that advises against public or overt investigative action involving public officials during the 90 days before an election.
Defense lawyers questioned why prosecutors waited so long to pursue the alleged false statements, pointing out that search warrants were served more than three years after their clients testified before Congress.
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Faruqui also raised concerns, calling the process used to bring the charges “strange.” He rejected prosecutors’ request to postpone the preliminary hearing by more than two weeks.
The judge ordered all parties to return to court Tuesday morning to address the next steps.
Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was left at a Delaware repair shop and later obtained by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, became a major flashpoint in the 2020 election campaign after the New York Post reported on its contents.
Hunter Biden was later convicted of felony gun charges and separate tax offenses. His father, former President Joe Biden, pardoned him shortly before leaving office.
Republicans have repeatedly criticized the FBI’s handling of the laptop and the now-disbanded Foreign Intelligence Task Force, which both Floris and Benavides helped lead. The FITF was responsible for investigating foreign influence threats, including potential Russian disinformation, and became a focus of Republican scrutiny.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanded the FITF in one of her first official actions last year.
Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel praised the charges Friday. In separate statements, both described the former agents’ alleged conduct as “weaponization.”
“As we’ve said repeatedly: weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI,” Patel said, adding that “anyone who abuses their position of public trust will be held accountable.”
Pirro, the US attorney in DC, went further – describing prosecutors’ actions as bringing the ‘hammer of justice down’ on the senior ex-FBI agents.
‘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 Friday.
This is a developing story and will be updated.