Nikki Floris, then-head of the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, tipped off bureau leadership that NBC News was about to report the FBI was probing whether Hunter Biden's laptop was tied to a foreign intelligence operation, according to a criminal complaint unsealed against her. At the time, the bureau had already held the laptop's contents for ten months.
Hunter Biden and former FBI official Nikki Floris. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh; AP Photo/Eric Thayer via Fox News)The tip came from an NBC reporter, who wrote that the network was preparing to report the FBI was investigating whether the materials published by the New York Post were "linked to a foreign intelligence operation designed to interfere in the election." The reporter added: "And that's the reason the laptop and hard drive were seized by the FBI." On the evening of Oct. 15, 2020—the day after the Post broke the laptop story—Floris forwarded the message to FBI executive leadership and Bradley Benavides, the task force's section chief.
NBC's Ken Dilanian published the story at 8:42 p.m. EDT that night, citing "two people familiar with the matter." The complaint does not allege that Floris was Dilanian's source.
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