DOJ targets two former FBI officials in another politically charged Hunter Biden case
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The Justice Department filed a superseding criminal complaint accusing former FBI counterintelligence officials of false testimony to Congress and obstruction in a congressional probe into Hunter Biden, intensifying concerns about selective prosecution and rushed legal tactics.
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., filed a superseding criminal complaint on Tuesday against former FBI counterintelligence officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. The filing alleges that the two gave materially false statements to a congressional committee about what they knew of FBI investigations involving Hunter Biden and that they obstructed the committee’s inquiry.
The complaint, filed without a signature or sworn affidavit, was submitted just hours before Floris and Benavides were scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing. At that hearing, their attorneys are expected to challenge a government witness and test the strength of the allegations, as well as the Department of Justice’s basis for probable cause.
According to the filing, Floris served as deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) from mid-2019 to mid-2022, and Benavides was the task force’s section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. The indictment centers on testimony they gave to the House committee in July and September 2023, which the complaint says was aimed at minimizing or concealing the FITF’s role in investigations related to Hunter Biden and at obstructing the congressional probe.
"What is going on at the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office? In the middle of the night, the government filed an unsigned and unsworn complaint attempting to fix the issues with their original charge against Ms. Floris and adding a new charge just as meritless as the first one," the defendants’ legal team said in a statement.
"In our combined decades of DOJ service, we have never seen or even heard of something like this being filed," the attorneys added, arguing that the filing sidesteps ordinary procedural safeguards.
Criminal complaints in felony cases are generally reserved for situations involving ongoing threats to public safety or national security, and DOJ guidelines usually urge caution when bringing politically sensitive actions close to elections. The timing of the filing, less than two weeks before the upcoming midterm elections, has drawn criticism from former prosecutors and other federal officials who questioned whether the move was appropriate or driven by politics.