‘Shadow Government’ FBI Official Got Advance Word Of NBC’s Hunter Laptop ‘Foreign Op’ Story, Complaint Shows

Nikki Floris, then-head of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, tipped off bureau leadership that NBC News was about to report the FBI was probing whether Hunter Biden’s laptop was tied to a foreign intelligence operation, according to a criminal complaint unsealed against her. At the time, the bureau had already held the laptop’s contents for ten months.

The tip came from an NBC reporter, who wrote that the network was preparing to report the FBI was investigating whether the materials published by the New York Post were “linked to a foreign intelligence operation designed to interfere in the election.” The reporter added: “And that’s the reason the laptop and hard drive were seized by the FBI.” On the evening of Oct. 15, 2020—the day after the Post broke the laptop story—Floris forwarded the message to FBI executive leadership and Bradley Benavides, the task force’s section chief.

NBC’s Ken Dilanian published the story at 8:42 p.m. EDT that night, citing “two people familiar with the matter.” The complaint does not allege that Floris was Dilanian’s source.

Federal prosecutors charged Floris and Benavides on Oct. 23 with lying to Congress about the FBI’s handling of the Hunter Biden investigations. As we flagged when the charges dropped, documents declassified in July show that Floris told a colleague in September 2020—weeks before the laptop story broke—that she was “basically running a shadow government inside the FBI.”

The complaint places the pair at the center of the bureau’s response from day one. On Oct. 14, hours after the Post story went live, an internal FBI email chain titled “Ny post… morning answer?” looped them into crafting the press response. Floris noted that “CID is point on this matter”—referring to the Criminal Investigative Division—while Benavides asked whether a copy of the laptop existed and if it had been shared outside the bureau. One of Benavides’s unit chiefs replied that he was “[o]n with Twitter now”—the very day Twitter blocked users from sharing the Post‘s reporting.

Another task force unit chief later testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the team knew at the time the laptop was authentic, adding, “I would certainly say that Brad Benavides was aware.”

According to the complaint, the FBI’s Baltimore field office had been investigating Hunter Biden “for tax and money-laundering offenses” and subpoenaed the laptop from a Delaware repair shop on Dec. 9, 2019. On Oct. 15, a task force assistant section chief informed Floris that “the criminal case was being run out of CID, Branch II, Financial Crimes Section.” Floris replied that she needed to know “if i can confirm FBI in possession of laptop, as i believe the property receipt is in open source,” noting that the “logical follow on question” would be what the bureau was doing with it. That evening, she forwarded the NBC reporter’s inquiry to leadership.

On Oct. 16, the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs drafted talking points for then-Director Christopher Wray ahead of a call with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), then vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The initial draft stated: “The most I can say is that the FBI is in possession of an item that we lawfully seized.” Benavides replied, “This is good…you could add another if asked,” and offered an addition of his own.

If pressed on whether the laptop was “part of a Russia disinformation effort,” Benavides suggested, the director could say anyone reading the story “could be concerned” that “this is a Russia disinformation effort similar to what the FBI, ODNI, and other agencies have warned against,” even though “the FBI has not made that determination in this specific instance.” Benavides asked, “Nikki, thoughts???” Floris replied, “Looks good!”

Three days later, 51 former intelligence officials published a public letter claiming the laptop story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

None of those 2020 actions form the basis of the current charges. Instead, Floris and Benavides each face one count of making false statements to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 regarding the task force’s involvement in the Hunter Biden probes. Floris, 46, served as a deputy assistant director and the task force’s functional head from mid-2019 to mid-2022; Benavides, 56, was its section chief through the 2020 election. Because prosecutors charged them via criminal complaint, neither has been indicted by a grand jury.

When committee investigators asked Floris, “Was there ever a discussion at the FITF about Hunter Biden?” she replied, “No. At least not with me,” adding, “I personally did not have any conversations.” The original complaint alleges she “personally participated in scores of conversations about Hunter Biden, including many that were in writing.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has also scrutinized the pair’s conduct. On Aug. 6, 2020—as Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) were finalizing an investigative report on the Biden family’s foreign business dealings—Floris and Benavides gave the senators “defensive briefings” that “focused on potential Russian disinformation,” according to the complaint. In a recent statement, Grassley said the briefing was promptly leaked to frame the senators’ investigation as Russian disinformation. He also noted that while Floris told House investigators she was unfamiliar with the Grassley-Johnson report, internal records show she reviewed it the day it was released.

The prosecution hit turbulence in federal court on Tuesday. Just after midnight—hours before a scheduled preliminary hearing—prosecutors filed an unsigned, unsworn superseding complaint adding a felony count of obstructing a congressional proceeding. At the same time, the revised filing walked back a key factual claim, alleging Floris participated in “conversations” about Hunter Biden rather than “scores of conversations,” Fox News reported.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui promptly struck the superseding complaint from the record. “We have never had complaints filed that are unsigned,” Faruqui told prosecutors, warning that the move made it “look like the United States is afraid of me trying to find probable cause,” according to CBS News. “Why today on this one case have you changed the entire history of how you charge cases?” he asked, per Fox. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Borchert insisted, “We are not afraid of a probable cause finding.”

Floris, who denies any wrongdoing, wept during the hearing, the New York Post reported. Her defense team blasted the midnight filing as “a serious abuse of the criminal charging process,” per ABC News. Last week, her attorneys called her a “patriot” and argued, “It’s no coincidence the government is filing these nonsense charges now, years later, on the eve of an election,” according to the Associated Press.

During Tuesday’s hearing, an FBI agent from the Kansas City field office testified that the case landed on his desk in July after FBI Director Kash Patel routed it there, CBS reported. The agent testified that he found the assignment unusual and worried it would be perceived as political.

Faruqui must still rule on whether the original complaint establishes probable cause. The hearing is set to resume Wednesday, and the Justice Department can still pursue the felony obstruction charge through a properly sworn complaint or a grand jury indictment.