DOJ brings criminal charges against FBI officials it believes hampered Biden corruption investigation

CNN and CBS News report that the Justice Department has charged two former senior FBI officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, with making false statements to Congress. CNN's two briefed sources say the inquiry examined whether investigators played down Biden family corruption claims and Hunter Biden laptop evidence. The charges arrive less than two weeks before Election Day.

CBS News adds that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia announced the case on X. Each defendant faces a single count in a criminal complaint over testimony about their work on the Foreign Influence Task Force during the 2020 election. Pirro said one of them claimed to have learned of the Hunter Biden investigation from Wikipedia, though evidence showed a role in efforts to "shape the public narrative about Hunter Biden's laptop."

CNN notes that IRS whistleblowers' claims the FBI stalled a Hunter Biden inquiry fueled Republican accusations of family corruption. Special counsel David Weiss sought no charges beyond gun and tax counts against Hunter Biden, whom Joe Biden pardoned around Thanksgiving 2024; Weiss did charge an informant over false bribery claims.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN and CBS News’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN → Also at CBS News →