Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress About Hunter Biden Investigations

ANALYSIS · October 23, 2026

Slug: two-former-fbi-officials-charged-lying-congress-hunter-biden

Package note: This Analysis covers a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia dated October 23, 2026, and the two documents DOJ posted with it: the criminal complaint and the FBI agent’s statement of facts (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Case No. 26-mj-185, signed Oct. 20, 2026). A criminal complaint is an accusation, not a finding of guilt. In DOJ’s words, “every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”

Primary sources

  • U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia (October 23, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-former-fbi-officials-charged-lying-congress-about-hunter-biden-investigations
  • Criminal complaint as posted by DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1468011/dl?inline=
  • Statement of facts (FBI affidavit, 27 pages) as posted by DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1468056/dl?inline=
  • FBI announcement of Floris’s 2022 appointment as Intelligence Analyst in Charge, Washington Field Office (career background): https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/nikki-l-floris-named-intelligence-analyst-in-charge-of-the-intelligence-division-of-the-washington-field-office
  • Statute: 18 U.S.C. § 1001: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section1001&num=0&edition=prelim

Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered on October 23, 2026, on arrest warrants. A criminal complaint charges each with one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). Prosecutors allege that both told the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 that they and the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) had no involvement in the Bureau’s Hunter Biden investigations. The FBI affidavit says documents, messages and witness accounts contradict that testimony. The complaint caption lists Floris as “Nicole Floris.”

Core Tension

DOJ says the case comes from “an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force,” which the release says “led the FBI’s efforts to secure the 2020 election from foreign malign influence.” The affidavit alleges a specific purpose: that the two made their statements “for the purpose of concealing FITF’s engagement with and communications about the Hunter Biden investigations and impeding the congressional investigation.” That is the government’s allegation, and no court has tested it. The release does not say whether either defendant has entered a plea, who represents them, or what release conditions were set. FBI Director Kash Patel said in the release that “one of these individuals is on record privately claiming to be ‘running a shadow government’ during the 2020 election.” He did not say which defendant, and that quote does not appear in the 27-page statement of facts.

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