Two former FBI employees have been charged with allegedly making false statements to Congress over the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden.
Bradley Benavides, 56, and Nikki Floris, 46, each face one criminal count arising from testimony they gave to lawmakers in 2023. The charges were filed by criminal complaint, meaning prosecutors have not yet obtained an indictment from a grand jury.
Both defendants appeared before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in federal court in Washington DC on Friday morning. They are due to return for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington DC, said the pair had allegedly lied about their roles in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden. One of them allegedly claimed they had learnt about the matter only through Wikipedia, despite evidence indicating their involvement in shaping the public narrative around Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election.
Judge Faruqui described both defendants as having “sparkling backgrounds” in federal law enforcement and as longtime dedicated public servants. He also said it was unusual to bring criminal complaints over conduct described as “quite old”.
The laptop became a focus of political controversy after reports before the 2020 election said it had been left at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and later obtained by Rudy Giuliani, who was then Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
Republicans have long accused the FBI of mishandling the laptop and its investigations into Hunter Biden. The younger Biden was later convicted on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to separate tax offences.
House Republicans subsequently opened an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, examining his son’s business dealings while he was vice-president. No evidence was presented that Joe Biden had financially benefited from those activities.
Joe Biden signed a full and unconditional pardon for his son in December 2024, shortly before leaving the White House.
