Ex-FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress Over Hunter Biden Probe

Two Former FBI Officials Surrender on Charges of Lying to Congress Regarding Hunter Biden Probe

Two former senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials surrendered on arrest warrants after being charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in investigations into Hunter Biden, the Department of Justice announced. Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, were taken into custody on a Friday morning press release issued by the DOJ.

Officials Allegedly Lied About Hunter Biden Investigations

The criminal charges stem from testimony Floris and Benavides provided in 2023 before the House Judiciary Committee. According to an FBI special agent’s affidavit supporting the charges, both officials stated they were not involved in the federal investigations of Hunter Biden that began in 2019 regarding tax and money-laundering matters. The now-56-year-old son of former President Joe Biden was the subject of these investigations.

Investigators dispute those statements. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro stated on X that Floris and Benavides lied about their roles, adding that evidence shows they helped shape the public narrative surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the election. Floris and Benavides allegedly lied to Congress about their roles in the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations, with one claiming they only learned about it from Wikipedia — despite evidence showing their involvement in helping shape the public narrative about Hunter Biden’s laptop right before the election, Jeanine Pirro said in an X post.

FBI Director Kash Patel stated on X that the charges originate from an ongoing inquiry into the dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force.

Defense Calls Indictment Politically Motivated Before Midterm Election

The Department of Justice filed the indictment less than two weeks before the midterm election. This timing diverges from longstanding DOJ guidance that discourages taking investigative actions that could influence ongoing political races.

Attorneys representing Nikki Floris condemned the indictment as politically motivated. In a public statement, defense counsel Margaret Donovan, Chris Mattei, Mary Dohrmann, and Kyle Freeny called the allegations nonsense and asserted that the government filed the charges to push a false narrative for political advantage on the eve of the November 3 midterm election. Nikki Floris is a patriot. She served our nation as a dedicated FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years. Yet today, the DOJ has accused her falsely of a crime on the say-so of politicians, not on the facts, read a statement from her counsel, including Margaret Donovan, Chris Mattei, Mary Dohrmann and Kyle Freeny. It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election, they wrote, adding, The government’s reasons for charging Nikki are as transparent as they are unjust: to push a false narrative for a shot at political points, and It’s another sad day for the DOJ, but we look forward to Nikki’s day in court. Attorneys for Floris called the charges nonsense, and accused the Trump administration of deliberately filing them just before the Nov. 3 midterm election.