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Sunday, October 25, 2026

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Crime · Sunday, October 25, 2026

Two former FBI officials surrender, charged with lying to Congress

The File desk · Oct. 25, 2026, 6:41 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia release of Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. The charges are allegations. The release does not give a plea or a next court date.
  • Confirmed
    Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides surrendered Friday on charges of making false statements to Congress.
  • Confirmed
    The release does not give a plea, a lawyer's response, or the next court date.
Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, two former senior FBI officials, turned themselves in on Friday after a criminal complaint charged them with lying to Congress about the bureau's Hunter Biden investigations. Floris is 46 and lives in Alexandria, Virginia. Benavides is 56 and lives in Aiken, South Carolina.1
Each is charged with making a false statement in a matter before Congress, under . The release says the charges grow out of an investigation of the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force, which the bureau has since dissolved. That task force led the FBI's work to protect the 2020 election from foreign influence. Floris led it as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 through mid-2022. The release says Benavides was the section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election.1
In 2023 the House Judiciary Committee interviewed both of them about the task force and the Hunter Biden investigations. Each was warned that lying to Congress is a crime. Floris told the committee she was involved in no discussions about Hunter Biden while she was at the task force. Benavides testified that he learned the FBI had Hunter Biden's laptop only by reading a Wikipedia article in 2023. An affidavit filed with the complaint says documents, messages from the time, and witness accounts contradict that testimony. The release says Floris discussed the Hunter Biden investigations routinely for more than a year, inside the task force and with others at the FBI, and that Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with FBI officials before the 2020 election.2
Why it matters (Estimate). The charges are about what two former FBI officials told Congress about the bureau's handling of the Hunter Biden matters from the 2020 election. Cases about lying to Congress are uncommon, and this one turns on what the evidence shows each person knew when they testified. For a reader, the open question is whether two people who ran an election-security unit misled the House, not whether the complaint has already proved that they did.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the charges in complaint No. 26-mj-185. What either person will say in court, and when they must appear next, is not in the release.1
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, “Two Former FBI Officials Charged in Lying to Congress about Hunter Biden Investigations,” Friday, October 23, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-former-fbi-officials-charged-lying-congress-about-hunter-biden-investigations “Two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered today on arrest warrants issued after a criminal complaint charged them with lying to Congress about their involvement in the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden.” The complaint file posted with the release is named for No. 26-mj-185. Floris and Benavides “each were charged with making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, in violation of .” In one sentence the release spells the unit “FIFT” when it describes Benavides's title. Elsewhere it uses FITF, for Foreign Influence Task Force. This story uses the spelled-out name. Charges are allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proved guilty. The release's closing line: “Charges in a complaint are merely allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” Charges are allegations; defendants are presumed innocent.
  2. 2.Same release. “Floris told the Judiciary Committee that she was involved in no discussions about Hunter Biden while she was at the FITF. Benavides testified that he only learned of the FBI’s possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop from reading a Wikipedia article in 2023.” “According to an affidavit submitted in support of the criminal complaint against Floris and Benavides, documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their Congressional testimony.” “Evidence shows that Floris discussed the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden routinely for more than a year both within the FITF and with others in the FBI.” Attorney General Todd Blanche is also quoted. FBI Director Kash Patel's quote includes a characterization of an unnamed person's private remark. This story does not apply that remark to Floris or to Benavides.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • Any plea. Not in the release.
  • Any response from Floris, Benavides, or a lawyer. Not in the release.
  • The next court date. Not in the release.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Two Former FBI Officials Charged in Lying to Congress about Hunter Biden Investigations

    U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia · October 23, 2026

    Floris and Benavides surrendered Friday after a complaint charged them with lying to Congress about the Hunter Biden investigations.

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/two-former-fbi-officials-charged-lying-congress-about-hunter-biden-investigations