Former FBI officials to appear in US court over Hunter Biden laptop testimony

Two former FBI officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, are scheduled to appear before a Washington federal court on Tuesday after being charged with lying to Congress about their involvement in investigations concerning Hunter Biden.

The criminal complaint, signed by a magistrate judge, alleges the ex‑agents falsely downplayed their knowledge of a laptop the Justice Department says Hunter Biden left at a Delaware computer‑repair shop in 2019. Their defence team has described the case as baseless and politically motivated.

The prosecution marks a rare Justice Department criminal case against former employees and follows a series of high‑profile investigations ahead of the upcoming US mid‑term elections. Defence lawyers are expected to challenge the charge at a preliminary hearing, highlighting that the case was not brought by a grand‑jury indictment.

Floris and Benavides previously led the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, created during the first Trump administration to monitor foreign disinformation campaigns. In August 2020 they briefed Republican senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on the Biden laptop matter, a briefing that later leaked and drew criticism from the senators.

The laptop story, first reported by the New York Post in 2020, has been linked to allegations of foreign influence and Russian involvement, though the then‑national intelligence director John Ratcliffe said no evidence tied it to Russia. The FBI later investigated Hunter Biden on separate gun and tax charges, resulting in felony convictions, and President Joe Biden pardoned his son in late 2024.

Source: ABC News. Photo: Eddie O. / Pexels.