On October 23, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department charged former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides with lying to Congress during 2023 testimony regarding the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force and Hunter Biden investigations. Prosecutors allege internal communications show both discussed the probe extensively despite testifying otherwise. FBI Director Kash Patel defended the charges, while defense lawyers condemned the prosecution as politically motivated standard timing 11 days before midterm elections.
Charges and court appearances for former officials
- ▪Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides surrendered to federal authorities on October 23, 2026, and made their initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- ▪U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui called the filing of charges by criminal complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides unusual and set a preliminary hearing for October 27, 2026
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department charged former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides each with one count of making false statements to Congress regarding their knowledge of Hunter Biden investigations
Allegations of false statements to Congress
- ▪Prosecutors allege Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides actively discussed Hunter Biden investigations and The New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop between December 2019 and September 2021
- ▪Bradley Benavides told the House Judiciary Committee in September 2023 that he learned of the FBI's possession of Hunter Biden's laptop from Wikipedia, which prosecutors allege was materially false
Reactions to the criminal charges
- ▪FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro defended the criminal charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, asserting that senior FBI officials who lie to Congress must be held accountable under the law
- ▪Attorneys for Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides called the lying-to-Congress charges political and noted that the Justice Department filed them years after the alleged 2023 conduct, 11 days before the midterm election
FBI Foreign Influence Task Force background
- ▪Attorney General Pam Bondi dissolved the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force in early 2025 after it had been created to track and combat foreign election influence operations
- ▪The FBI Foreign Influence Task Force briefed U.S. Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson in August 2020 that their inquiry into Biden corruption allegations was targeted by covert Russian intelligence
- ▪Nikki Floris led the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force as Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022, while Bradley Benavides served as Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election
FBI acquisition and verification of laptop
- ▪The FBI obtained Hunter Biden's laptop contents in December 2019 from a Delaware computer repair shop as part of investigations into potential tax and money-laundering offenses
- ▪FBI special agent Erica Jensen testified during Hunter Biden's 2024 trial that investigators verified laptop contents by cross-referencing Hunter Biden's iCloud storage accounts with the computer's serial number
Hunter Biden criminal cases
- ▪President Joe Biden granted Hunter Biden a full unconditional pardon in December 2024 covering federal offenses committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024
- ▪Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony firearm offenses in June 2024 and later pleaded guilty to nine tax offenses in a separate federal case
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