Two former FBI officials have been taken into custody after being charged with lying to Congress about their roles in the Hunter Biden investigation, Justice Department officials announced Friday.
Former employees Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavidez, 56, turned themselves in on Friday morning pursuant to arrest warrants, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, told X-Post.
“Mr. Floris and Mr. Benavidez allegedly lied to Congress about their roles in the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigation, despite evidence that they helped shape public discourse about Hunter Biden’s laptop just before the election, with some claiming they only knew about it from Wikipedia,” Pirro wrote.
FBI Director Kash Patel told X that the charges “arise from an ongoing investigation into the disbanded FBI Foreign Influence Task Force.”
Mr. Floris and Mr. Benavidez both served on that special committee, which testified that it was “not involved in the Hunter Biden investigation,” Patel wrote. “Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness testimony contradict their testimony.”
Floris’ lawyers called the accusations “nonsense” and accused the Trump administration of deliberately filing them just before the Nov. 3 midterm elections to gain political advantage.
“Nikki Floris is a patriot. She served our country as a full-time FBI agent for nearly 20 years. But today, the Department of Justice has wrongly accused her of crimes based on politicians’ statements rather than facts,” said a statement from her attorneys, including Margaret Donovan, Chris Mattei, Mary Dorman and Kyle Freeney.
“It is no coincidence that now, many years later, on the eve of an election, the government is making such nonsense accusations,” they wrote.
“The government’s reasons for prosecuting Mr. Nikki are both unwarranted and transparent: to push a false narrative to make political points,” the statement added. “This is another sad day for the Department of Justice, but we look forward to Nikki’s day in court.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for the latest information.
