by WorldTribune Staff, October 25, 2026 — Real World News
Former senior FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were charged on Friday Oct. 23 with making false statements to Congress during 2023 testimony regarding their roles and knowledge surrounding the FBI’s investigations into Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Both defendants previously led the FBI’s Foreign Intelligence Task Force (FITF), which was established to counter foreign election interference. The task force was disbanded in the second Trump Administration by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Major media outlets that initially framed Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop as disinformation are now acknowledging its existence by reporting on the charges filed against Floris and Benavides.
Legacy and social media monopolies went to great lengths to suppress reporting on the laptop during and after the 2020 presidential election campaign.
Garrett Ziegler, founder of the Marco Polo research group, documented much of the evidence implicating Floris and Benavides in his epic book, Report on the Biden Laptop, published four years ago.
The Department of Justice alleges that Benavides falsely claimed he learned the FBI possessed the Hunter Biden laptop through Wikipedia, despite contemporaneous messages showing he regularly discussed it with other officials.
Floris allegedly testified that she had no knowledge of or involvement in discussions regarding Hunter Biden at the task force, which the DOJ says is contradicted by documentary evidence and communications.
Both surrendered and made their initial appearance in a DC federal court, where their legal teams pushed for a speedy hearing to contest the claims, calling the accusations politically motivated or unfounded.
“Both testified that the FITF was not involved in the Hunter Biden investigations,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “Documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony.”
Patel also alleged that Floris was recorded privately claiming to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election in her role on the task force, which WorldTribune.com reported on in July.
Related: Not yet arrested: Nikki Floris, who ran ‘a shadow government’ at FBI, now works at Microsoft , July 20, 2026
Patel added: “Lying to Congress by senior FBI officials strikes at the heart of our system.”
Floris’s attorney denied the allegations and described her as a patriot and suggested the timing – right before the midterms – is suspicious.”
WorldTribune.com was on this story years ago:
Related: Part 3: ‘Tip of the FBI spear’ managed the 2020 ‘assessment’ of the Biden laptop, March 25, 2024
And @MarcoPolo501c3 is the only place on the globe you can go read & listen to them — in full.
🔗s below … https://t.co/VtfgqYcvcL
— Marco Polo (@MarcoPolo501c3) October 23, 2026
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