Two Ex-FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress

Two ex-FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about the bureau’s Hunter Biden investigations surrendered on arrest warrants on Friday (Oct 23), the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.

Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, are each accused by criminal complaint of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch. Al Jazeera reported that the pair made their first court appearance in Washington, DC, on Friday.

Ex-FBI Officials Charged Over Hunter Biden Testimony

According to prosecutors, Floris led the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 to mid-2022, while Benavides served as the task force’s section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.

Both were interviewed by the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 and were warned at the time that lying to Congress is a crime, the release said. The task force has since been dissolved; Al Jazeera reported that it was disbanded when President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

What Prosecutors Allege

Floris told the committee she had no discussions about Hunter Biden during her time at the FITF. Prosecutors allege she routinely discussed the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations for more than a year.

Benavides testified that he learned the FBI had the laptop from a Wikipedia article in 2023. Prosecutors allege he had discussed the laptop with FBI officials before the 2020 election. The supporting affidavit cites documents, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts, according to the release, which describes the charges as part of an ongoing investigation into the task force.

US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said: “Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system.” FBI Director Kash Patel said one of the defendants had privately claimed to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election, and added that weaponisation would not be tolerated at the bureau.

Defence Lawyers Cite Midterm Timing

Lawyers for the pair accused the Justice Department of bringing the case to revive the scandal days before the Nov 3 midterm elections, Al Jazeera reported. Floris’s lawyer said she had served nearly 20 years and that the case rests on hearsay.

“It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

No further court dates have been announced. The prosecutors’ release notes that the two defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

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