President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden (Reuters)
Two former senior FBI officials have been taken into custody on charges of lying to Congress about the bureau’s investigations into Hunter Biden, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides led the now-dissolved FBI Foreign Influence Task Force. Floris was a deputy assistant director from mid-2019 to mid-2022, and Benavides was section chief through the 2020 election, reported CNN.
Both testified that the task force wasn’t involved in the Hunter Biden investigations, and Patel claimed that “documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications, and witness accounts contradict their testimony.”
Patel also alleged that Floris privately claimed to be “running a shadow government” during the 2020 election.
“No one is above the law,” Patel said.
MS NOW's Ken Dilanian noted the pair had been the target of Republican ire since that testimony six years ago.
"They gave a defensive briefing back in 2020 to two Republican senators explaining that the Russians were peddling disinformation about the Biden family," Dilanian posted on X. "They have been in the crosshairs ever since. Now they have been charged with crimes."
The charges, which the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is expected to announce, come less than two weeks before Election Day.
Trump and Republicans have long accused the Bidens of corruption, but special counsel David Weiss, who thoroughly investigated those claims, recommended no charges beyond the gun and tax counts Hunter Biden was convicted on before his father pardoned him.
Weiss also charged a government informant for fabricating bribery claims against the Biden family.
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