Power Grab/Point the law at critics
Justice Department charges two former FBI election-security officials with lying to Congress, 11 days before the election
— Justice Department charges two former FBI election-security officials with lying to Congress, 11 days before the election.
Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, long criticized by Trump’s allies, were charged by complaint over their testimony about the FBI’s foreign-influence work and the Hunter Biden investigations. Both deny it. Trump called them “dirty cops.”
What happened
On October 23, 2026, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced that two former FBI officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, had surrendered to face one count each of lying to Congress. Pirro said they lied about their roles in the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and “about their roles in the FBI’s Hunter Biden investigations.”
Floris, a former deputy assistant director, was the FBI’s security lead for the 2020 election; Benavides, a colleague, worked on election security, foreign influence and Chinese intelligence threats. Both have been criticized for years by Republicans, who say the FBI buried a report on Chinese election influence.
The case was brought by criminal complaint; neither has been indicted by a grand jury. That evening Trump said: “I heard they were bad people… Dirty cops, like Comey.”
Where it stands
Neither has been convicted of anything. D.C. grand juries have refused several of this administration’s cases, including an attempt to indict six Democratic members of Congress.
Who benefited
Trump and allies who have argued for years that the FBI protected the Bidens before the 2020 election. Asked whether he believes that, Trump said, “Yeah, I guess.”
Who wanted something
Pirro’s office said the two lied to Congress. Floris’s lawyers said she was charged “on the say-so of politicians, not on the facts” and that it is “no coincidence” the charges came “on the eve of an election.”
Who lost out
Two career officials who spent about 20 years each at the FBI, now facing a felony charge. Benavides’s lawyer, Ronald Safer, called it “a transparently political complaint.”
Why it matters
Lying to Congress is rarely charged, and this case reaches back years to officials who worked on the 2020 election. It was filed 11 days before the midterms, the same week DOJ charged a Virginia Democrat and sued to hold up Alaska’s Senate result.
Sources NBC NewsAssociated Press
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