THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS
(I’ve got things to do).
- Federal prosecutors charged former senior FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides with allegedly lying to Congress about their roles in FBI investigations involving Hunter Biden.
- Benavides told congressional investigators he learned the FBI possessed Hunter Biden’s laptop from Wikipedia in 2023, but prosecutors allege he had discussed it years earlier.
- Both defendants appeared in federal court Friday, where the judge questioned the unusual timing and procedural handling of the charges.
LAY IT ON ME
(I’ve got time).
Apparently, one former senior FBI official wants Congress to believe he learned about Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop the same way a college freshman discovers the history of ancient Rome.
Wikipedia.
And now the Justice Department says that remarkable explanation was false.
Federal prosecutors charged two former senior FBI officials Friday with lying to Congress about their knowledge of and involvement in investigations concerning Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential election.
The defendants are Nikki Floris, 46, and Bradley Benavides, 56, both former officials in the FBI’s now-disbanded Foreign Influence Task Force.
That unit played a central role in the bureau’s work on foreign election interference during the 2020 presidential campaign.
The criminal charges stem from statements the two made to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023.
And the most extraordinary detail involves Benavides.
According to the Justice Department, Benavides told congressional investigators that he only learned the FBI had Hunter Biden’s laptop by reading about it on Wikipedia in 2023.
Think about that for a moment.
Here was a former senior counterintelligence official whose task force worked on foreign influence threats during the 2020 election, telling Congress that his introduction to one of the election’s most notorious FBI controversies came from an internet encyclopedia three years later.
Prosecutors say internal communications tell a very different story.
According to the criminal complaint, Benavides regularly discussed the laptop with other FBI officials in the months leading up to the 2020 election.
The Justice Department also alleges that Floris, who led the Foreign Influence Task Force from mid-2019 through mid-2022, misled lawmakers about her involvement.
Floris told the Judiciary Committee she had not participated in discussions about Hunter Biden during her time with the task force.
But prosecutors say documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts show she discussed FBI investigations involving the younger Biden repeatedly over more than a year.
Both officials were warned before their congressional interviews that providing false information could constitute a crime.
On Friday, each was charged with making false statements in a matter within Congress’s jurisdiction.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro made clear that she considers the allegations particularly serious because they involve senior law enforcement officials.
“Lying to Congress by anyone strikes at the heart of our democratic system,” Pirro said, adding that when senior FBI agents allegedly believe they are above the law, “it’s time to bring the hammer of justice down on them.”
FBI Director Kash Patel piled on with another provocative allegation.
Patel said one of the individuals had privately claimed to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election.
He did not establish that allegation in the public charging announcement, but the comment gives a sense of just how politically combustible the investigation has become.
There is also an intriguing courtroom development.
Both defendants surrendered Friday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in Washington, D.C.
The judge questioned the unusual circumstances surrounding charges arising from statements made approximately three years earlier.
The case was filed by criminal complaint rather than a grand jury indictment. The defendants’ lawyers requested an opportunity to challenge the allegations promptly.
Floris’s attorneys responded forcefully, calling her a patriot who had served as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly two decades.
They accused the Justice Department of pursuing a politically motivated case based on false allegations.
The attorneys also questioned why charges were being filed so close to the midterm elections.
Benavides has likewise not been convicted of any offense. The government’s allegations remain subject to court proceedings.
But the larger controversy is impossible to ignore.
For years, questions surrounding the FBI’s handling of Hunter Biden’s laptop have fueled bitter arguments about what federal investigators knew, what they told the public and how the controversy was handled during the 2020 election.
The new charges don’t resolve every one of those arguments.
They do, however, put two former senior officials in the position of answering criminal allegations about what they told Congress concerning the FBI’s involvement.
And prosecutors say the evidence includes the officials’ own communications from the period in question.
That’s a considerably more interesting record than somebody’s recollection of what he might have read online.
DBS WIRE SOURCES
(I’ve got all day).
- Justice Department — Official charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, including criminal complaint
- CBS News — Former FBI officials charged over Hunter Biden laptop testimony
- Reuters — Criminal complaint and defense response
- Associated Press — National coverage of charges and courtroom proceedings
- Axios — Defense attorneys dispute charges; details of 2023 testimony
