2 ex-FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden laptop probe

Updated on: October 23, 2026 / 11:03 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Justice Department has charged two former FBI officials with lying to Congress over questions about Hunter Biden's laptop, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.

She said in a post on X that the two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, were charged Friday with lying to Congress about their roles on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election, specifically the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations.

She wrote that one claimed to have learned about the investigation into former President Joe Biden's son from Wikipedia, even though evidence showed "their involvement in helping shape the public narrative about Hunter Biden's laptop right before the election."

Benavides and Floris were each charged in a criminal complaint with one count of lying to Congress.

Floris' lawyers said she was falsely accused of a crime and raised concerns about the timing of the charges.

"Nikki Floris is a patriot. She served our nation as a dedicated FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years. Yet today, the DOJ has accused her falsely of a crime on the say-so…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/