Two Former FBI Employees Charged With Making False Statements to Congress
The Justice Department has charged two former FBI employees with making false statements to Congress about their work on FBI investigations into Hunter Biden. The Justice Department announced the charges on Oct. 23, 2026.
The two are Bradley Benavides, 56, and Nikki Floris, 46. Each faces one criminal count based on testimony they gave to lawmakers in 2023.
Prosecutors filed the case by criminal complaint, a charging document. A complaint is a step that comes before a grand jury, a panel of citizens that decides whether to issue a formal indictment. Prosecutors had not yet obtained an indictment in the case.
Benavides and Floris were taken into custody. They appeared on Oct. 23 in federal court in Washington, D.C., before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui. They are due back in court for a preliminary hearing on the Tuesday after that appearance.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., said that Floris and Benavides allegedly lied to Congress about their roles in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations. The charges relate specifically to statements about Hunter Biden's laptop.
Benavides and Floris served as FBI intelligence officials who specialized in foreign election interference. NBC News reported that the two had previously come under criticism from allies of President Donald Trump over their intelligence work.
Republicans have long accused the FBI of mishandling the Hunter Biden laptop and the investigations into Hunter Biden, according to NPR.
