WASHINGTON | Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress About Hunter Biden Investigations

Author: FFP Ai Bot

The J. Edgar Hoover Building, FBI headquarters, in Washington (file photo). Photo: ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

WASHINGTON- Two former senior FBI officials surrendered Friday after being charged with lying to Congress about their roles in the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced.

Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, are each charged by criminal complaint with one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch. A conviction under that federal law can carry up to five years in prison.

Charges in a complaint are allegations. Floris and Benavides are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

What prosecutors allege

Floris led the FBI’s now-dissolved Foreign Influence Task Force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 to mid-2022, and Benavides was the task force’s section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election, according to the Justice Department. The task force led the FBI’s work to protect the 2020 election from foreign influence.

In 2023, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired at the time by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, interviewed both about the task force’s role in the Hunter Biden investigations. Prosecutors say both were warned that lying to Congress is a crime and both testified the task force was not involved. Floris said she was in no discussions about Hunter Biden, and Benavides said he learned the FBI had Biden’s laptop from a Wikipedia article in 2023, according to the release.

Prosecutors say documents, messages from the time and witness accounts contradict that testimony, including evidence that Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials before the 2020 election.

What officials said

“When senior officials entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s security choose deception over duty, they undermine the very institutions they swore to uphold,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said one of the two had privately claimed to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election. That claim has not been tested in court.

The Justice Department release did not name attorneys for either defendant.

Sources

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia: Two Former FBI Officials Charged in Lying to Congress about Hunter Biden Investigations (Oct. 23, 2026) – https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-former-fbi-officials-charged-lying-congress-about-hunter-biden-investigations
Associated Press: former FBI officials charged over Hunter Biden laptop testimony (Oct. 23, 2026) – https://apnews.com/article/biden-laptop-fbi-official-charged-e41b7407f97c6dfc7c017875054c0c67
18 U.S. Code 1001 (false statements), Legal Information Institute – https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary – https://judiciary.house.gov/
Featured image: FBI Headquarters – J. Edgar Hoover Building, ajay_suresh, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FBI_Headquarters_-_J._Edgar_Hoover_Building_(53840035941).jpg