Two former senior FBI officials surrendered to federal authorities Friday after the Justice Department charged them with lying to Congress about their roles in investigations involving Hunter Biden and his laptop during the 2020 presidential election.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, were each charged with making false statements to Congress stemming from testimony they provided to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023. Both surrendered Friday and appeared in federal court in Washington, where prosecutors did not seek to keep them detained while the cases proceed.
The charges center on the FBI’s now-disbanded Foreign Influence Task Force, known as FITF, which Floris and Benavides helped lead during a politically explosive period surrounding the 2020 election.
Floris previously served as deputy assistant director in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and led the task force, while Benavides served as a section chief and later held another senior counterintelligence position.
According to the criminal complaint, both officials told congressional investigators that the task force was not involved in FBI investigations related to Hunter Biden, but prosecutors allege contemporaneous communications and other evidence contradict their testimony.
Floris testified in July 2023 that she had no knowledge of Hunter Biden’s laptop when congressional investigators questioned her about the computer and the FBI’s handling of it. The government alleges Floris actually knew about the laptop and had participated in discussions involving Hunter Biden-related matters while serving in her senior FBI position.
Benavides was questioned by the House Judiciary Committee in September 2023 about whether the Foreign Influence Task Force had participated in investigations involving Hunter Biden, and prosecutors similarly contend that his answers understated the task force’s involvement.
The allegations revive one of the most contentious law-enforcement controversies of the 2020 election, when the New York Post published material obtained from a laptop Hunter Biden had reportedly left at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.
Emails and other material from the computer raised questions about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, while concerns about possible Russian election interference led intelligence and law-enforcement officials to scrutinize the circumstances surrounding the laptop’s emergence.
The FBI had possession of the laptop before the Post published its October 2020 reports, and subsequent investigations determined that the computer contained authentic material belonging to Hunter Biden.
Republican lawmakers have spent years investigating whether federal officials improperly minimized or suppressed information involving the laptop and Hunter Biden during the closing weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign.
The Foreign Influence Task Force became a particular focus because it had been established during Trump’s first administration to combat foreign influence operations targeting American elections. Republicans later accused officials associated with the task force of treating legitimate information about Hunter Biden as potential Russian disinformation, an allegation that became central to congressional investigations of the FBI.
The task force was ultimately disbanded in February 2025 as the Justice Department and FBI underwent major changes following Trump’s return to office. FBI Director Kash Patel said Friday that senior bureau officials lying to Congress would strike “at the heart of our system,” adding that “no one is above the law.”
Floris’ attorneys strongly denied the government’s accusations and characterized the prosecution as politically motivated – because of course they did.
Hunter Biden was ultimately convicted in separate federal gun and tax cases during his father’s presidency before President Joe Biden pardoned him near the end of his term.
