The Justice Department accused two former FBI officials of lying to Congress, stating in a criminal complaint that they falsely minimized their work on investigations involving Hunter Biden during testimony given three years ago. The charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides mark an escalation of efforts by the Trump administration to target law enforcement and intelligence personnel who previously challenged unsubstantiated claims that Joseph R. Biden Jr. engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine.
Both Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides served on the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit established after the 2016 Russian election interference to help intelligence agencies monitor clandestine efforts by foreign governments to manipulate American politics. The task force, which was shut down by the second Trump administration, frequently issued warnings to politicians and social media companies regarding covert foreign meddling.
Allies of Mr. Trump have long criticized the task force for its role in undermining narratives that Republicans used during the 2020 election cycle. Task force members relayed intelligence community warnings about a covert Russian disinformation operation aimed at helping Mr. Trump by amplifying claims that Mr. Biden engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine, where his son held a board seat on an energy firm.
The charges were lodged in a 27-page criminal complaint filed in Federal District Court in Washington, centering on a single count each of lying to Congress during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Although criminal complaints are approved by a federal magistrate judge rather than presented to a grand jury for a vote, prosecutors must seek an indictment within 30 days if a plea deal is not reached. While cases filed in Washington are typically handled by the local U.S. attorney’s office, this matter was assigned to a prosecutor brought in from Kansas City.
During a hearing, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui questioned why prosecutors had not sought an indictment, setting another hearing where the government must present evidence establishing probable cause. Following the Republican takeover of the House committee in 2023, lawmakers opened a wide-ranging inquiry focusing on the Foreign Influence Task Force’s warnings and a separate controversy over a 2020 article published about files from a laptop left by Hunter Biden at a repair shop.
The criminal complaint cites excerpts from the testimony of Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides, in which both disclaimed knowledge of and involvement in internal FBI discussions concerning Hunter Biden. Prosecutors argued that these denials contradicted internal bureau messages showing the two officials discussing matters involving the younger Mr. Biden in detail. The complaint stated that Ms. Floris’s statements allowed her to evade further questioning from the committee in the lead-up to the 2024 election and hindered congressional oversight of the executive branch.
Legal representatives for both defendants strongly criticized the prosecution. Margaret Donovan, counsel for Ms. Floris, described her client as a patriot who served the country for nearly two decades, stating that the charges were brought on the initiative of politicians rather than facts. Ronald S. Safer, representing Mr. Benavides, noted his client’s 20 years of public service protecting the public against foreign agents and called the complaint transparently political.
Conversely, FBI Director Kash Patel strongly denounced the former officials, stating that lying to senior bureau officials strikes at the heart of the legal system and affirming that no one is above the law.
The controversy traces back to allegations that the elder Mr. Biden, while serving as vice president in December 2015, pushed the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor in order to protect Burisma, an energy company employing Hunter Biden. In reality, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office had stalled investigations into the firm, and replacing him was a policy goal shared by the Obama administration and other Western governments to combat corruption.
In August 2020, Ms. Floris and Mr. Benavides briefed Senators Ron Johnson and Charles E. Grassley, warning that their inquiry into the Biden family was being targeted by Russian intelligence operations. After the briefing leaked, the senators expressed outrage and accused the FBI of political collusion before issuing a report in September 2020 that detailed Hunter Biden’s business dealings without accusing the elder Mr. Biden of corruption.
The following month, the New York Post published an article detailing files from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop. The Foreign Influence Task Force had previously advised social media companies to watch for Russian disinformation comparable to the 2016 Democratic email dumps, leading platforms to temporarily suppress posts concerning the laptop. While the FBI had custody of the laptop, the task force did not verify whether the Post’s files were authentic. Internal emails cited in the complaint showed Ms. Floris circulating the senators’ report to Mr. Benavides and both discussing the laptop article, contrasting with their 2023 congressional testimony downplaying their involvement.
