Two ex-FBI agents face court challenge over Hunter Biden laptop testimony

The Justice Department has prosecuted two former FBI officials for allegedly misrepresenting their knowledge of an investigation into Hunter Biden's laptop.

Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides appeared in federal court in Washington on Tuesday for a preliminary hearing regarding the criminal complaint filed against them on Friday.

The complaint alleges that the pair told members of Congress in 2023 that they had no current knowledge of the laptop or internal agency discussions about it.

Defense attorneys plan to contest the validity of the case during the proceedings.

A central point of contention is the procedural method used to bring the charges.

The prosecution filed a criminal complaint signed by a magistrate judge rather than seeking an indictment from a grand jury.

Defense lawyers intend to highlight this distinction, noting that the Justice Department has previously had difficulty securing grand jury indictments in high-profile cases within the District of Columbia.

The case stems from a laptop that the Department of Justice states Hunter Biden left at a computer repair shop in Delaware in 2019.

The New York Post reported on the device in 2020, stating it obtained a hard drive from Rudy Giuliani.

The publication cited emails on the computer that detailed the younger Biden's foreign business activities.

Floris and Benavides led the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit created during the first Trump administration to monitor foreign interference efforts.

In August 2020, the two officials briefed Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson while the lawmakers investigated Hunter Biden's work in Ukraine.', "The senators publicly criticized the FBI after the briefing leaked, arguing that their inquiry was being falsely associated with Russian disinformation campaigns.", "The task force was dissolved in February 2025 by Attorney General Pam Bondi.", "The current prosecution is one of several recent legal actions by the Justice Department ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for next week.", "Former National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe previously stated there was no evidence the laptop was connected to Russian actors, a claim the FBI supported at the time.", "The FBI later investigated Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges that resulted in felony convictions, and former President Joe Biden pardoned his son in late 2024."