Two former senior FBI officials surrendered to federal authorities Friday to answer charges that they misled Congress about their work on the bureau’s Hunter Biden investigations.
Nicole “Nikki” Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, each face a single count of making false statements to lawmakers, according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The pair once led the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit created to shield the 2020 election from foreign meddling that the bureau shut down in February 2025, Time.news reported.
Prosecutors say Benavides told House investigators he first learned about Hunter Biden’s laptop from a Wikipedia entry. He read it while preparing for his 2023 interview, according to the Justice Department. Internal records tell a different story. (RELATED: Hunter Biden Opens Up About Political Corruption, Insider Trading, And ‘Evil Incarnate’ Bibi Netanyahu)
The complaint cites emails showing he traded messages about the device with FBI colleagues in the weeks before the election. Floris denied that the task force ever discussed the president’s son, yet communications referenced in the filing place her in a year’s worth of exchanges on the topic.
Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered today on arrest warrants issued after a criminal complaint charged them with lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden, announced @USAttyPirro. The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force. Evidence shows that Floris discussed the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year both within the FITF and with others in the FBI. Contrary to his assertion that he learned of the Hunter Biden laptop from Wikipedia, Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials in the leadup to the 2020 election. https://t.co/PqXXBuuZMa
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro did not soften her language. “Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system but when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them,” she said in the DOJ announcement.
This morning, two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, surrendered on arrest warrants after being charged with lying to Congress about their roles on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 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. Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system, but when senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them. When senior officials entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s security choose deception over duty, they undermine the very institutions they swore to uphold. Today’s action makes clear that no one is above the law, and we will hold accountable all who obstruct the truth.
FBI Director Kash Patel added that one of the two had privately described “running a shadow government” during the 2020 race.
Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were taken into custody today on charges of allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden. The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force. Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was the FITF Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony. Floris is also on record privately claiming to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election in her role on the FITF. Lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system. No one is above the law. The FBI has already dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad that engaged in political weaponization targeting their opponents, including President Trump. Thanks to @TheJusticeDept @FBIKansasCity and @USAttyPirro. -DKP🇺🇸
Floris’s attorneys rejected the case outright. “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. It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election,” they said in a statement to Fox News.