Two former FBI task force leaders charged with false statements to House Judiciary Committee

Two former FBI officials who led the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force surrendered on arrest warrants on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, after being charged with making false statements to Congress, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced. Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides are each charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), which covers false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch.¹ A criminal complaint is an accusation, not a finding of guilt, and the release notes that each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.¹

The complaint, case No. 1:26-mj-00185 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was sworn by FBI Special Agent Byron Militello by telephone and is dated Oct. 20; the judge’s signature block names U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh. It names the defendants as Nicole Floris and Bradley Benavides and lists the offense dates as July 19, 2023, and Sept. 28, 2023.² Prosecutors asked the court on Oct. 20 to keep the papers sealed until the arrest warrants were executed.³ The Associated Press reported that both appeared in federal court in Washington on Friday and that U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, over prosecutors’ objections, set a preliminary hearing for Tuesday, Oct. 27.⁴ CBS News reported the hearing is set for 11 a.m.⁵

What the complaint alleges

According to the supporting affidavit, Floris led the task force as a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 to mid-2022, and Benavides was its section chief from mid-2019 through the 2020 election. Each gave a transcribed interview to the House Judiciary Committee after being warned that false statements could be prosecuted under Section 1001: Floris on July 19, 2023, and Benavides on Sept. 28, 2023.⁶ Committee Chairman Jim Jordan had requested Benavides’ interview in a June 7, 2023, letter.⁷

The affidavit alleges that Floris told the committee she had no involvement in the Hunter Biden investigation, personally had no conversations about him at the task force and had no knowledge of the laptop attributed to him. It cites FBI messages and records it says show she joined an Aug. 14, 2020, call about a defensive briefing, circulated a report by Sens. Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson on Sept. 23, 2020, and on Oct. 16, 2020, approved additions Benavides wrote to the FBI director’s talking points on the laptop.⁶

The affidavit alleges that Benavides said he knew of the New York Post’s laptop story only from interview preparation materials and learned that the FBI had the laptop only from a Wikipedia article. It cites records it says show he discussed the New York Post’s laptop story on Oct. 14, 2020, asked the case team about the laptop on Oct. 16 and held a meeting on the subject on Oct. 22, 2020. It also cites a congressional staffer who attended both interviews and said the answers affected the committee’s inquiry.⁶

Statements

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in the release that the case shows “no one is above the law.” FBI Director Kash Patel said in the same release that “weaponization will never be tolerated at this FBI.”¹

Floris’s lawyers, from the firms Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder and Washington Litigation Group, called her “a patriot” who served nearly 20 years as an FBI intelligence officer. They said the Justice Department had accused her “falsely of a crime on the say-so of politicians, not on the facts,” questioned the timing of charges filed “on the eve of an election,” and said they look forward to her “day in court.”⁸ CBS News also reported the statement.⁵ Kimberly Paschall of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila filed an appearance for Benavides on Oct. 23.⁹ The AP reported that Benavides’ lawyers, in an emailed statement, called the case “a transparently political complaint,” said “the truth will come out” and called him “a true patriot.”⁴ CBS News reported that Ron Safer, a lawyer for Benavides, told the court that “the government has had the information about this for years” and asked for a prompt preliminary hearing.⁵

What the records do not show

• The transcripts of the 2023 interviews were not found among public House Judiciary Committee records; the excerpts here come from the affidavit.⁶
• The records reviewed do not state release conditions or whether prosecutors will seek a grand jury indictment.²¹
• The release identifies Floris as Nikki Cole Floris; court papers use Nicole Floris. The records do not explain the difference.¹²