What the complaint alleges
Two former senior FBI officials appeared in federal court in Washington on Friday. They face charges that they made false statements to Congress in 2023 about the bureau's investigation involving Hunter Biden's laptop, CBS News reported. Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, were each presented with a criminal complaint charging one count of lying to Congress about their roles on the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election.
An FBI statement of facts filed with the complaint alleges that Floris made false statements on July 19, 2023, and that Benavides did the same that September. It says the statements concerned their awareness of and involvement in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations. It also says there is probable cause to believe they spoke as they did to conceal the task force's engagement with and communications about those investigations and to impede the congressional inquiry.
According to the complaint, Floris was the task force's deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.
The testimony at issue
The complaint says Floris told the House Judiciary Committee in July 2023 that she had no involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation. Asked whether the task force ever discussed Hunter Biden, she reportedly answered, "No. At least not with me." She added that a whole team worked below her and that she could not say whether others had such conversations.
Prosecutors say the record shows otherwise. The complaint says she was in frequent communication with the case team for over a year, sending and receiving information about Hunter Biden. It also says witness accounts and documents from December 2019 through September 2021 show both officials knew about the investigations and took part in classified briefings for agents and prosecutors.
Of Benavides' September 2023 interview, the complaint says he told investigators he learned some details about the laptop investigation from Wikipedia while preparing for the hearing. When pressed on whether he had any knowledge of the matter during his FBI tenure, the complaint says he answered, "No." An FBI employee later told investigators he personally spoke with Benavides about the laptop and about reviewing its contents, the complaint says. A congressional staffer who attended both interviews told investigators the testimony appeared to be "materially untrue."
The complaint also describes a counterintelligence operation called "Round River." It says the operation focused on collecting derogatory informant reporting on Hunter Biden, among other things, to flag as Russian disinformation. Prosecutors allege the two officials helped review and approve a report from that operation. They also allege the two helped prepare a script for defensive briefings given on Aug. 6, 2020, to Sens. Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson about potential Russian disinformation.
Questions about the timing and process
CBS News described the decision by the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. to charge the pair by criminal complaint over three-year-old allegations as highly unusual. The case was unsealed about two weeks before the midterm election, which CBS said may prompt questions among Justice Department veterans.
Ron Safer, Benavides' attorney, said the alleged conduct happened years ago and that the government has had the information for years. He asked Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui to schedule a preliminary hearing "as soon as humanly possible." Faruqui said the way the case was charged seemed "strange." He rejected a prosecution request to delay the hearing by two weeks or more and ordered the parties back at 11 a.m. Tuesday. He said the charges were a "Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads" and would "follow them for the rest of their lives."
Floris' attorneys said in a statement that she served as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years and has been falsely accused. They said the charges rest on the "say-so of politicians, not on the facts," and called the timing no coincidence. They said they look forward to her day in court.
The background
Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, has long been a target of President Trump and his allies. The FBI investigated his business dealings in Ukraine with the energy company Burisma. It also examined the contents of a laptop he left at a Delaware repair shop. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland eventually appointed a special counsel to handle the investigations.
Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges. He pleaded guilty in a separate case to three felony and six misdemeanor tax offenses. His father pardoned him shortly before leaving office. According to CBS News, he was never charged with wrongdoing tied to the allegations about his overseas business dealings.
