Former FBI officials indicted in Hunter Biden laptop investigation | News 2026 US midterm elections

Lawyers for the two accused officials say the Justice Department is seeking to reignite the scandal before the midterm vote.

Two former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were indicted in connection with a 2020 investigation into a laptop belonging to former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

The former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, were accused of lying to Congress. They made their first appearance in court in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

Lawyers for the officials accused the Justice Department of filing the suit to reignite the salacious saga just days before the Nov. 3 midterm vote, in which Republicans face an uphill battle against Democrats to retain control of Congress.

A lawyer for Floris said she “served our country as a dedicated FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years,” while accusing the Justice Department of building its case on hearsay.

“Yet today the DOJ wrongly charged her with a crime based on what politicians said, not on the facts,” the statement said.

“It is no coincidence that the government is making these absurd accusations today, years later, on the eve of an election.”

Floris and Benavides were overseeing the FBI’s Foreign Intelligence Task Force (FITF) when Hunter Biden’s laptop was discovered. Both men testified before Congress that the unit, which focuses on foreign interference in U.S. elections, was not involved in the laptop investigation.

In a criminal complaint, federal prosecutors alleged the statements contradicted messages sent during the same period.

Although it was launched by Trump during his first term, the FITF was heavily targeted by Republicans under former US President Joe Biden. They accused the unit of being politically biased and used to cover up information on Biden’s laptop.

The unit was disbanded when Trump took office for the second time in January 2025.

Scandalous saga

The existence of the laptop became known in October 2020, just weeks before Biden and Trump faced off in a presidential election.

Its strange origins, deposited in a Delaware computer repair shop and apparently abandoned by Hunter Biden, aroused suspicion. Its contents were first reported by the New York Post, based on information provided to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Several former intelligence officials warned that the laptop showed the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. However, the FBI later seized and verified that the laptop and its contents, including messages related to the younger Biden’s foreign business dealings and explicit photos of his drug use, were authentic.

The laptop was later used to support federal tax evasion and firearms charges against Hunter Biden, although no wrongdoing related to his business ties or to his father was found.

Trump’s FBI director, Kash Patel, has vowed to investigate the agency’s conduct throughout Biden’s presidency. Critics have accused him of blatant politicization.

“The lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system. No one is above the law,” Patel said in a statement published on X.

The Justice Department has historically sought to avoid public and overt investigative acts in the period directly preceding an election that implicate candidates or risk influencing the outcome.

But authorities in the past two weeks have taken a series of bold steps in politically charged cases, including a search of the home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as part of an investigation into immigration fraud.

The department also unsealed a corruption indictment Thursday against powerful Virginia Democratic state Sen. L Louise Lucas.