The charges concern 2023 testimony about the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations
The Justice Department has charged Bradley Benavides, 56, and Nikki Floris, 46, with one criminal count each alleging they made false statements to Congress during testimony in 2023 about the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden. Benavides and Floris appeared in federal court in Washington, D.C., Friday morning before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui.
Prosecutors filed both cases by criminal complaint, meaning they have not yet secured an indictment from a grand jury. The complaints each stem from testimony before lawmakers in 2023 and concern what Benavides and Floris said about their roles in the investigations.
Faruqui noted that the defendants had “sparkling backgrounds” in federal law enforcement and were “longtime dedicated public servants.” Faruqui also said charging conduct that was “quite old” by criminal complaint was unusual. Benavides and Floris are due back in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.
In a statement on X, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, said Floris and Benavides “allegedly lied to Congress about their roles in the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations.” Pirro said one defendant claimed to have learned about the matter only from Wikipedia, while evidence showed involvement in helping shape the public narrative about Hunter Biden’s laptop right before the election.
The case concerns Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. The New York Post reported weeks before the 2020 presidential election that Hunter Biden’s laptop had been abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and then obtained by President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The laptop became the subject of intense scrutiny after that report, and Republicans have long accused the FBI of mishandling both the laptop and the investigations into Hunter Biden.
The Post said the laptop showed wrongdoing by then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who went on to win the election. Some of the data on the laptop was later ascertained to belong to Hunter Biden. House Republicans subsequently launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, focusing on Hunter Biden’s business dealings at the time his father was vice president.
Hunter Biden was convicted of federal gun charges and later pleaded guilty to separate tax offenses.
NPR reported that no evidence has ever been presented that Joe Biden financially gained from his son’s business activities. President Joe Biden signed a full and unconditional pardon for Hunter in December 2024, shortly before leaving the White House.