Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress in Hunter Biden Laptop Probe
Written by Kiss Media on 23 October 2026
Two former FBI officials turned themselves in Friday on federal charges they lied to Congress about the bureau’s handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, are each charged with making false statements to Congress under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). Both led the FBI’s since-disbanded Foreign Influence Task Force — the unit charged with protecting the 2020 election from foreign interference — during the period the laptop emerged.
The Justice Department says the pair misled the House Judiciary Committee in 2023, denying the task force’s involvement in Hunter Biden investigations and claiming little knowledge of the laptop. Prosecutors say contemporaneous messages and records tell a different story, including discussions about the laptop that contradicted Benavides’ claim he first learned of it from Wikipedia.
Floris and Benavides appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C. Friday, where their attorneys pushed for a speedy hearing. Floris’ lawyers called her a “patriot” who served the FBI for nearly two decades and called the charges false and politically timed.
Delaware connection: the laptop at the center of the case was dropped off by Hunter Biden at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.
Source: First State Update — https://firststateupdate.com/2026/10/two-former-fbi-agents-charged-in-biden-laptop-probe/ and WDEL (Associated Press) — https://www.wdel.com/news/2-ex-fbi-intelligence-officials-are-charged-with-lying-about-hunter-bidens-laptop/article_fe0dd5ac-badc-41ac-9717-49706b7a0ae9.html
