FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday outlined allegations against two former senior FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about their knowledge of investigations involving Hunter Biden’s laptop, reviving a controversy that shaped the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. Nikki Cole Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, surrendered to authorities on Friday after a criminal complaint accused each of making materially false statements to the House Judiciary Committee during interviews in 2023. Both face one count under federal law prohibiting knowingly and willfully making false statements in matters within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch.
Patel said in a post on X Friday that the charges against the agents stemmed from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF). "Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavides was the FITF Section Chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.
Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations. Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony," Patel wrote on X. Patel also referred to an allegation that Floris privately described herself as “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election.
"Lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system. No one is above the law," he added. The charges were filed less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
Ron Safer, an attorney for Benavides, pointed to the timing of the charges, telling Friday's hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that, "The alleged conduct happened years ago. The government has had the information about this for years." He also urged the judge to reject a request by prosecutors to delay the preliminary hearing by more than two weeks - which would put the date after the midterms.
Instead he called for the hearing, which determines if there is adequate probably cause that a crime was committed, to be held "as soon as humanly possible." Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, who was presiding at Friday's hearing, acknowledged that the manner in which the agents were charged was "strange," and rejected the prosecutors' request to delay. Instead he ordered the parties to return at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. "This is the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads," he said.
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