WASHINGTON — Two former senior FBI counterintelligence officials were hit with new charges early Tuesday, Oct. 27, as federal prosecutors accused them of obstructing Congress and giving lawmakers false accounts of their part in the bureau’s Hunter Biden investigations, CBS News reported.
The superseding complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, which was neither signed nor sworn, landed hours before the pair were due in federal court in Washington for a preliminary hearing, where defense attorneys planned to question a government witness on whether there is probable cause.
Floris’ lawyers said they had never seen anything like it in decades of Justice Department service, arguing that criminal charges must be authorized by a grand jury, a judge or the defendant, and accusing the government of trying to delay their challenge and “litigate this case in the media.”
The charges stem from testimony the two gave Congress three years ago. Former prosecutors have questioned the timing, noting that criminal complaints are usually reserved for urgent situations and that department norms discourage overt steps in politically sensitive cases close to an election.
Sources: CBS News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
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