US Attorney Pirro Indicts Ex-FBI Chiefs on Perjury Counts

Federal prosecutors on Friday charged two former senior FBI executives with perjury, alleging they misled Congress during 2023 testimony about the bureau's handling of investigations involving Hunter Biden.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the indictment against Nikki Floris, a former intelligence division leader in the Washington field office, and Bradley Benavides, a former deputy assistant director for counterintelligence. Each defendant faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

The Justice Department asserts that Floris and Benavides intentionally concealed their roles in the probes. According to an FBI affidavit, Floris denied any involvement while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. The document states she was in frequent contact with the case team for over a year, exchanging information about Hunter Biden. It further alleges she claimed ignorance of the laptop, despite coordinating the FBI's real-time response to media reports about the device.

Benavides testified a few months after Floris. He told the committee he knew little about the matter and claimed he learned about the laptop from a Wikipedia entry while preparing for his appearance. Prosecutors argue he was in constant communication about the laptop for several days prior to his testimony.

A House Judiciary Committee member stated that the defendants' answers influenced the investigation, including by blocking follow-up interviews and subpoenas. Pirro said in a statement that the pair undermined the institutions they served. She added that lying to Congress strikes at the heart of the democratic system and that senior agents who believe they are above the law must face the hammer of justice.

Both defendants appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge on Friday morning before being released. Their attorneys challenged the prosecution's timing and basis. Floris's lawyers argued the government filed nonsense charges on the eve of an election based on the say-so of politicians rather than facts. They described Floris as a patriot who served as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years.

Ron Safer, Benavides's attorney, asked the court to hold a hearing to determine if prosecutors had sufficient evidence against two lifetime public servants. US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui raised concerns about the age of the allegations, noting the charges came more than three years after the original testimony.

Faruqui granted the defense request for an evidentiary hearing, scheduling it for Tuesday. He described the timing as rare, particularly given the elapsed time. The judge noted the defendants had sparkling backgrounds in law enforcement and an interest in clearing their names quickly, describing the situation as a Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

The laptop at the center of the case has been a partisan flashpoint since 2019. A computer shop owner handed it to the FBI after saying Hunter Biden dropped it off and never returned to collect it. The owner told the Washington Post he turned it over to authorities after viewing some contents. Republicans say the device holds evidence of corruption in the Biden family, while Democrats describe it as part of a Republican conspiracy.

The indictment arrives as many FBI agents have been pushed out of the bureau since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Some of those dismissed say they were fired for working on investigations involving Trump, while others cite a lack of loyalty to the president as the reason for their departures.