Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, seen in July 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The Justice Department has accused two former FBI employees of making false statements to Congress in connection with the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden.
Bradley Benavides, 56, and Nikki Floris, 46, each face a single criminal charge stemming from their testimony before lawmakers in 2023. They were charged by complaint, meaning prosecutors have not yet obtained an indictment from a grand jury.
The laptop of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, came under scrutiny after The New York Post reported weeks before the 2020 presidential election that the device was abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and then obtained by President Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Republicans have long accused the FBI of mishandling the laptop and investigations into the younger Biden. Hunter Biden was convicted of federal gun charges and later pleaded guilty to separate tax offenses.
In a statement on
Both Benavides and Floris appeared Friday morning in federal court in Washington, D.C., before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui.
Faruqui noted that both defendants had “stellar experience” in federal law enforcement and were long-time, dedicated public servants. He also noted that it was unusual to criminally charge them for “fairly old” conduct.
Benavides and Floris are due back in court for a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
THE Job reported that Hunter Biden’s laptop showed wrongdoing by then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden, who went on to win the election. It was later established that some data on the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden. House Republicans then launched an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, focusing on Hunter Biden’s business dealings during his father’s time as vice president. But no evidence has ever been presented that Joe Biden profited financially from his son’s business activities.
President Joe Biden signed a full and unconditional pardon for his son in December 2024, shortly before leaving the White House.
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