Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were charged with lying to Congress about FBI Hunter Biden inquiries.

Friday is a complaint and a first appearance. It is not a grand jury indictment, and it is not a finding that either person lied. CBS News reported Faruqui called that charging method strange for testimony from 2023 and put the next hearing at 11 a.m. Tuesday. NPR reported the same Tuesday return without the hour. That hearing is about probable cause. It is not a trial.

CBS News and NPR reported Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, that two former FBI officials were charged with lying to Congress about the bureau's investigations of Hunter Biden. CBS News reported Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, each appeared in federal court in Washington and were presented with a criminal complaint charging one count apiece. NPR reported each faces a single count from testimony in 2023, that prosecutors charged them by complaint, and that a complaint means a grand jury has not yet indicted them. The Alexandria Brief, citing a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, reported Nikki Cole Floris, 46, of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides, 56, of Aiken, South Carolina, surrendered Friday on arrest warrants, and that each count is making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch. The Associated Press, as the Alexandria Brief reported it, said they made a first appearance and that their lawyers pressed for a speedy hearing. A complaint is the charging paper. It is not a conviction.

The titles the outlets use are not the same. CBS News described Floris as a former intelligence analyst in charge in the FBI's Washington Field Office and Benavides as the former deputy assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division. NBC News described Floris as the former deputy assistant director of that Counterintelligence Division and described Benavides as another FBI official. CBS News, citing the statement of facts filed with the complaint, reported Floris was deputy assistant director of the Foreign Influence Task Force from mid-2019 through mid-2022, and that Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. NBC News's caption on a 2019 hearing photograph calls her deputy assistant director for counterterrorism. Those are the titles in Friday's stories and in that caption. They are not a finding about who directed which file.

CBS News reported the complaint alleges Floris made false statements to the House Judiciary Committee on July 19, 2023, and that Benavides did so on Sept. 28, 2023, about their awareness of the Hunter Biden investigations. The station reported the complaint quotes Floris answering "I did not" when asked whether she had any involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation, and answering "No. At least not with me" when asked whether the task force ever discussed him. CBS News reported the complaint says Benavides told the committee he learned details of the laptop investigation from Wikipedia while preparing for the hearing, and that when asked whether he had knowledge of it during his time at the FBI he said "No." CBS News reported the complaint says witness accounts and documents show both knew about the investigations and took part in classified briefings, and that an FBI employee later told investigators he had spoken with Benavides about the laptop. Those are allegations in the complaint, as CBS News described them. They have not been tested at the Tuesday hearing.

NPR reported that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Floris and Benavides allegedly lied to Congress about their roles in the Hunter Biden investigations, with one claiming to have learned about the matter from Wikipedia despite evidence of involvement in the public account of the laptop before the 2020 election. CBS News reported Benavides's attorney, Ron Safer, told Faruqui the alleged conduct happened years ago and that the government had the information for years, and asked for a preliminary hearing as soon as possible. CBS News reported Faruqui said the way the case was charged seemed strange, rejected a prosecution request to put the preliminary hearing off for two weeks or more, and ordered the parties back at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The station reported he said, "This is the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads," and, "This will follow them for the rest of their lives." NBC News reported attorneys for Floris said she is a patriot who served nearly 20 years and that the Justice Department had accused her falsely, on the say-so of politicians, years later, on the eve of an election. Tuesday is the date those accounts give for the next hearing. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.