Ex-FBI Officials Face Court Over Hunter Biden Laptop Case

Two former FBI officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, are scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington on Tuesday. They face charges of lying to Congress regarding their knowledge and participation in investigations connected to a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.

The prosecution, announced Friday, marks the latest development in politically charged actions by the Justice Department ahead of the midterm elections. The case centers on accusations that Floris and Benavides downplayed their awareness of the laptop, which the Justice Department states Hunter Biden left at a Delaware computer repair shop in 2019. This legal action also targets a now-disbanded FBI task force that monitored foreign influence operations. Congressional Republicans have previously criticized the task force, alleging it aimed to discredit their investigations into the Biden family.

Defense attorneys are expected to challenge the case during a preliminary hearing, raising questions about the unusual use of a criminal complaint signed by a magistrate judge instead of a grand jury indictment. The Justice Department has reportedly faced difficulties in securing indictments from grand juries in Washington for high-profile cases.

The prosecution represents a rare instance of the Justice Department pursuing criminal charges against former employees. The case revisits the controversy surrounding the laptop, which emerged publicly in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential race. The New York Post reported on emails from the laptop, allegedly obtained from Rudy Giuliani, an ally of then-President Donald Trump, that detailed some of Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.

Concerns were raised by Democrats and former intelligence officials about potential Russian involvement in the laptop's dissemination, particularly given assessments that Moscow sought to undermine Joe Biden's candidacy. However, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe stated there were no indications of Russian actors involved. The FBI investigated Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges, which later resulted in felony convictions. President Joe Biden pardoned his son in late 2024.

Floris and Benavides were leaders of the Foreign Influence Task Force, established during the Trump administration to counter foreign influence campaigns. In August 2020, they briefed Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson during their investigation into Hunter Biden's work in Ukraine. Following the briefing, the senators criticized the FBI, claiming their scrutiny of the Biden family had been discredited and falsely linked to Russian disinformation.

The criminal complaint alleges that Floris and Benavides misled lawmakers in 2023 by denying contemporaneous knowledge of the Biden laptop or involvement in internal FBI discussions about it. Their legal representatives have refuted these allegations.

The Foreign Influence Task Force was disbanded in February 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.