Two former senior FBI officials who ran the bureau's now-defunct Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election were charged Friday with lying to Congress about their roles in the FBI's Hunter Biden investigations.
Nikki Cole Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, each face one count of lying to Congress in a criminal complaint, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced in a post on X. Both surrendered Friday and made their first appearance in federal court in Washington, according to the AP.
Floris led the task force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022, while Benavides was its section chief through the 2020 election, FBI Director Kash Patel said. 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, crediting the bureau's Kansas City field office alongside the Justice Department and Pirro.
Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were taken into custody today on charges of allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI's investigations into Hunter Biden. The charges stem from an ongoing investigation into the since-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force. Floris led the FITF as a Deputy Assistant Director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. Benavide
