Two former FBI leaders face court over Hunter Biden laptop testimony

Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides appeared in federal court in Washington on Tuesday to contest criminal charges alleging they lied to Congress about their involvement in investigations concerning Hunter Biden. The former FBI officials are accused of minimizing their awareness of a laptop that the Justice Department says Hunter Biden left at a computer repair shop in 2019.

The case was announced on Friday and marks the latest legal action by the Justice Department in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections scheduled for next week. Prosecutors argue that Floris and Benavides falsely denied having contemporaneous knowledge of the laptop or participating in internal FBI discussions about it during testimony in 2023.

Defense attorneys plan to challenge the validity of the prosecution at the preliminary hearing. A central point of contention is the procedural mechanism used to charge the defendants. Floris and Benavides were charged via a criminal complaint signed by a magistrate judge, rather than through an indictment voted on by a grand jury. Their lawyers argue this is an unusual step for high-profile cases, noting that the Justice Department has had difficulty persuading grand juries in the nation’s capital to return indictments in similar matters.

The charges target two leaders of the Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit established during the first Trump administration. The task force was created to monitor influence campaigns by Russia and other nations intended to sow discord and spread disinformation. Floris and Benavides led this group until it was disbanded in February 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The legal dispute traces back to August 2020, when Floris and Benavides briefed Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson. The senators were conducting their own investigation into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine at the time. News of the briefing leaked, prompting the lawmakers to criticize the FBI. They claimed the agency had discredited their scrutiny of the Biden family and falsely linked their efforts to Russian disinformation campaigns.

The underlying controversy began after the New York Post revealed the existence of the laptop in the final weeks of the 2020 presidential race. The newspaper reported that it had obtained the hard drive from Rudy Giuliani, a close ally of President Donald Trump. The Post reported on emails found on the computer that appeared to detail Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

The circumstances surrounding the laptop’s discovery raised concerns among Democrats and former intelligence officials about potential Russian involvement. This suspicion was heightened by the fact that the Trump administration’s intelligence community had assessed that Moscow was attempting to undermine Joe Biden’s candidacy. At the time, Giuliani was traveling abroad seeking information on the Biden family. John Ratcliffe, then the national intelligence director, stated there were no signs Russian actors were involved. The FBI said it had nothing to add to that assessment and subsequently investigated Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges that led to felony convictions. President Joe Biden pardoned his son in late 2024.

The current prosecution is a rare criminal case brought by the Justice Department against former employees. Defense lawyers have described the case as baseless and politically motivated. They have denied any allegations of wrongdoing by Floris and Benavides, who are expected to continue fighting the charges in court.

The case has drawn attention from congressional Republicans who have long criticized the disbanded task force. They argued the unit tried to discredit investigations into the Biden family. The preliminary hearing serves as a key procedural step before the case potentially moves to trial.