US PROSECUTORS CHARGE FORMER FBI OFFICIALS OVER HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP

US federal prosecutors have charged former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides with lying to Congress about an investigation linked to Hunter Biden’s laptop. Both surrendered and appeared in federal court in Washington, DC, on Friday. The charges concern testimony about the FBI’s Foreign Intelligence Task Force, which the pair oversaw. The task force focused on foreign interference in US elections. Hunter Biden is the son of former US president Joe Biden.

Floris and Benavides told Congress that the task force had no involvement in the laptop investigation. Federal prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint that messages sent during the same period contradicted their statements. The laptop came to public attention in October 2020, during the presidential campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Floris’s lawyers said she had worked as an FBI intelligence officer for nearly 20 years.

Floris’s lawyers rejected the allegation, saying the Justice Department had relied on hearsay and politicians’ claims. “It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election,” they said. The United States is due to hold midterm elections on 3 November. Republicans previously accused the task force of political bias and of covering up information about the laptop. Trump launched the task force during his first term as president.