Former FBI Agents Floris and Benavides Face Prison Over 2023 Perjury

The Justice Department filed perjury charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides on Friday, alleging the former FBI executives lied to House lawmakers regarding the bureau's handling of the Hunter Biden laptop. Floris, who previously led the intelligence division in the Washington field office, and Benavides, a former deputy assistant director for counterintelligence, each face up to five years in prison if convicted. Both were released after a brief appearance before a federal magistrate judge on the morning of the indictment.

The legal action stems from testimony the pair gave to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023. According to an FBI affidavit, Floris denied any involvement in the Hunter Biden investigations despite being in frequent communication with the case team for over a year. The document states she claimed ignorance of the laptop while actually coordinating the bureau's response to media reports in real time. Benavides, who testified months later, told the committee he learned of the laptop from a Wikipedia entry while preparing for his deposition. Prosecutors say he was in constant contact about the device for several days. A committee member noted these answers thwarted follow-up interviews and subpoenas.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who is leading the prosecution, issued a statement arguing that the two officials undermined the institutions they served. She described their conduct as a strike at the heart of the democratic system and stated, "it's time to bring the hammer of justice down on them." Defense attorneys for Floris rejected the charges, calling them false accusations based on the say-so of politicians rather than facts. They characterized Floris as a patriot who served the FBI for nearly 20 years and suggested the timing of the filing, on the eve of an election, was not a coincidence. Ron Safer, representing Benavides, asked the court to review whether prosecutors held sufficient evidence against "two lifetime public servants."

US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui expressed concern about the age of the charges, noting they were filed more than three years after the original testimony. He granted a defense request for a hearing to weigh the government's evidence, a procedural step he described as rare for defendants who have been released. Faruqui set the hearing for Tuesday, a date sooner than typically expected for such cases. He remarked that it was "certainly rare" to see charges of this nature brought so long after the fact. The judge acknowledged the defendants had "sparkling backgrounds" in law enforcement and an interest in clearing their names quickly, adding that the matter would follow them for the rest of their lives.

The laptop at the center of the dispute was handed to the FBI in 2019 after a computer shop owner reported that Hunter Biden had dropped it off and failed to return for it. The owner told the Washington Post he turned the device over to authorities after viewing some of its contents. The case arrives as many FBI agents accused by allies of President Donald Trump of working against him have been pushed out of the bureau since the start of his second term. Some of those dismissed say they were fired for working on investigations involving Trump, while others cite a lack of loyalty as the reason for their departure.