Two former FBI officials have been charged with allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement in investigations into Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 US presidential election.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered on Friday and appeared in federal court in Washington.
The US Department of Justice said both had been charged with making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch. The allegations relate to testimony they gave to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023.
Allegations against former FBI officials
According to court documents, Ms Floris told investigators in July 2023 that she had not been involved in discussions about Hunter Biden while serving in the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force.
Prosecutors allege that documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts contradict that testimony. Ms Floris is alleged to have discussed the investigation routinely for more than a year while working within the task force and elsewhere in the bureau.
Mr Benavides, who gave evidence in September 2023, allegedly told the committee that he had learned the FBI possessed Hunter Biden’s laptop through Wikipedia. The Justice Department claims he had regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the period before the 2020 election.
The pair were senior members of the Foreign Influence Task Force, which led the FBI’s efforts to guard the election against foreign interference. Ms Floris served as its deputy assistant director from mid-2019 until mid-2022, while Mr Benavides was its section chief through the 2020 election.
The task force was later dissolved. The allegations form part of an ongoing investigation into its role in the FBI’s handling of matters connected with Hunter Biden.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said that false statements by senior officials undermined public institutions, while FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau would hold accountable those who abused positions of public trust.
Lawyers reject the case
Ms Floris’s lawyers rejected the allegations, describing the case as “nonsense” and saying the Justice Department had accused her on the basis of political claims rather than facts.
They said she had served as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years and argued that the timing of the charges, shortly before the US midterm elections, was significant.
The criminal complaint contains allegations only. Both defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Hunter Biden’s laptop became a major issue in the 2020 contest between his father, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump after the New York Post reported that it had obtained a hard drive from a computer left at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.
Emails on the device appeared to relate to Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings, although the circumstances surrounding its discovery led Democrats and former intelligence officials to raise concerns about possible Russian disinformation.
