Miranda Devine: FBI agents finally face accountability after trying to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Devine, M. (2026, October 24). Miranda Devine: FBI agents finally face accountability after trying to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/23/opinion/miranda-devine-fbi-agents-finally-facing-accountability-after-trying-to-smother-the-hunter-biden-corruption-scandal/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-24 · by Miranda Devine analysis

Quick Summary

FBI agents Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides are facing charges for allegedly lying to Congress about their involvement with Hunter Biden’s laptop. Prosecutors claim they falsely denied knowledge of the laptop during testimony in 2023, despite playing key roles in the FBI’s handling of it since December 2019. The article, written by Miranda Devine, argues that Floris and Benavides were part of an operation aimed at smothering investigations into Hunter Biden by flagging all related reports as Russian disinformation before the 2020 election.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-24, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On October 23, 2026, two former FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris of Alexandria, Virginia, and Bradley Benavides of Aiken, South Carolina, were charged with making false statements to Congress regarding their roles in investigating the origins of Hunter Biden's laptop. This case was filed just 11 days before the November 3 midterm elections, adding political scrutiny. Floris and Benavides surrendered and appeared in federal court in Washington, DC.

The charges stem from testimony given by the two officials before lawmakers in 2023 when questioned about their involvement with Hunter Biden’s laptop investigation prior to the 2020 presidential election. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro emphasized that "no one is above the law," stating that Floris and Benavides allegedly lied about their roles.

Former FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Nikki Floris was accused of operating a "shadow government" within the bureau, using its Foreign Influence Task Force to suppress reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, which she testified knowing nothing about beforehand. Similarly, Bradley Benavides, as Section Chief of FITF, participated in briefings and discussions regarding the laptop prior to October 2020 but claimed ignorance during testimony.

This development highlights ongoing political tensions surrounding FBI actions related to the 2020 election and Hunter Biden’s alleged corruption ties. Republicans have long accused the bureau of mishandling the laptop investigation, while Democrats argue that these charges are politically motivated ahead of upcoming elections.

Written for “FBI Officials Charged In Hunter Biden Saga” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly right (beta estimate) Confidence high 1 quote(s) discarded as not found in the article
Leaning: leans strongly right for article 103381 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-24

Story

📰 FBI Officials Charged In Hunter Biden Saga
Crime & Law · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 9% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Two ex-FBI officials charged with lying about investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop same event · 100%
The Guardian · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 13 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles describe the identical event of two former FBI officials being charged with making false statements regarding their involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop investigation.”
Fury as ex-FBI officials are hit with criminal case in Hunter Biden laptop saga on eve of midterms same event · 100%
Daily Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 20% hedged 1 of 5 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe the identical incident where two former FBI officials, Nikki Cole Floris and Bradley Benavides, were charged for making false statements to Congress regarding their involvement with Hunter Biden's laptop in October 2026.”
Ex-FBI employees charged with lying to Congress over Hunter Biden inquiries same event · 100%
NPR
⚖️ Leans right further left than this 🔴 7% hedged 1 of 15 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the identical specific incident involving Bradley Benavides and Nikki Floris being charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden's laptop in connection with FBI investigations.”
Meet the FBI ‘shadow government’ that shut down the Hunter laptop story same event · 95%
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 11 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles discuss the same specific charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides for perjury regarding the Hunter Biden laptop case.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
2 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-24 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Miranda Devine
11 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Meanwhile, Floris left the FBI last May for a lucrative job at Microsoft, where she joined her former mentor Lisa Monaco, the deputy AG who directed most of the lawfare against Trump and his allies during the Biden years.
2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: FBI agents finally face accountability after trying to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal
🔮 The Michigan senator told students at the University of Chicago last week how she plans to use the power that will come to Democrats if they win Senate control in the midterms next month.
2026-10-19 · assertive framing · ‘Moderate’ Elissa Slotkin pretends she’s a stickler for ‘defending democracy’ — but this is how the Bolshevik left play the game
🔮 But, of course, that will rely on CNN moderator Erin Burnett doing her job to hold him accountable.
2026-10-12 · assertive framing · With all these ‘sick’ Democrats like James Talarico, one wonders: how are they in the lead?
🔮 He was talking about how a temporary rise in gas prices was “a small price to pay” for stopping Iran from developing nuclear missiles that could annihilate the cities of our allies in Europe and the Middle East, and might one day even strike American cities.
2026-10-08 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: The far-left is pushing its most nonsensical anti-Trump hoax yet. It will only hurt Dems in the midterms
🔮 The next month, Olah was dismayed when Pope Leo, who has a math degree, released an encyclical letter rejecting the entire concept of machine consciousness.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Anthropic’s idiot savants are trying to play God while pushing frightenting utopian fantasies
🔮 Ithaca Democrat Mayor Robert Cantelmo damned the accused men as “perpetrators” and suspended “Greek life” at Cornell that he said “failed to hold the perpetrators to account.”
2026-10-01 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: The lynch mob is out for the ‘Cornell 7’ — proving we’ve learned nothing from past injustices
🔮 “The requirement of the board would be that I would show up for four meetings a year,” he told the addiction podcast “Dopey.”
2026-09-28 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: Hunter Biden continues to spew ‘laptop from hell’ lies to indulge his new addiction — publicity
🔮 First it was New York’s unlovely Mayor Mamdani Trump did the great honor of visiting at Gracie Mansion on Monday.
2026-09-24 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: Trump’s crafty ‘Commie Week’ diplomacy with Mamdani and Xi
🔮 Instead, one of my obsessed DOJ harassers privatized his Russia fantasy — one he could never prove as a fed,” says Caputo.
2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: Dems bring Russiagate back from the dead to haunt the midterms and former Trump staffer Michael Caputo
🔮 Among the revelations is the startling news that an “anonymous donor” paid for the cremation of Crooks’ body after he was killed by a Secret Service sniper moments after he opened fire at the Trump rally on July 13, 2024, striking the then-candidate’s right ear, killing volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore, and injuring two other rally-goers. Yet it could be significant, because the cremation destroyed crucial evidence.
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Miranda Devine: Trump was nearly assassinated more than 2 years ago. We deserve the truth
Also by Miranda Devine
‘Moderate’ Elissa Slotkin pretends she’s a stickler for ‘defending democracy’ — but this is how the Bolshevik left play the game
2026-10-19 · New York Post
With all these ‘sick’ Democrats like James Talarico, one wonders: how are they in the lead?
2026-10-12 · New York Post
Miranda Devine: The far-left is pushing its most nonsensical anti-Trump hoax yet. It will only hurt Dems in the midterms
2026-10-08 · New York Post
Anthropic’s idiot savants are trying to play God while pushing frightenting utopian fantasies
2026-10-05 · New York Post
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 11 articles by Miranda Devine →

Topics

Congress FBI Post Russian the House Judiciary Committee

Subjects

FBI ORG · 18× Benavides PERSON · 6× Floris PERSON · 6× Hunter Biden PERSON · 6× Brussels GPE · 2× Hunter PERSON · 2× Hunter Biden’s PERSON · 2× Post ORG · 2× Russian NORP · 2× the House Judiciary Committee ORG · 2×

Narrative

Grassley and Johnson have always said the briefing was a political setup designed to discredit their investigation by smearing it as Russian disinformation — and, sure enough, details were later leaked to The Washington Post. A few weeks after that briefing, Floris confided to a colleague: “I’m basically running a shadow government across the FBI,” as revealed in a recently declassified internal FBI chat from Sept. 25, 2020. They knew plenty Benavides had known since as early as March 2019 about allegations that Hunter Biden had received millions of dollars from foreign entities when his father was vice president. He was one of four FBI agents sent to Brussels to interview Gal Luft, the Israeli-American professor who tipped off the FBI that Hunter and his uncle Jim Biden were receiving corrupt payments from Chinese energy company CEFC.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-24
🔮 Meanwhile, Floris left the FBI last May for a lucrative job at Microsoft, where she joined her former mentor Lisa Monaco, the deputy AG who directed most of the lawfare against Trump and his allies during the Biden years.
2026-10-24 · New York Post
Miranda Devine: FBI agents finally face accountability after trying to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal · assertive framing

Claims (22 extracted, 2 hedged)

Two of the FBI agents most closely identified with the FBI’s politicized operation to smother the Hunter Biden corruption scandal are facing their first taste of accountability. asserted
Two → identify → accountability
Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were charged Friday with allegedly lying to Congress about Hunter Biden’s laptop. “I don’t have any knowledge of said laptop,” Floris testified to the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 when asked about Hunter Biden’s MacBook, which the FBI seized in December 2019. Yet she had been intimately involved in every aspect of the FBI’s handling of the laptop from the start, prosecutors allege in stunning detail. uncertain
prosecutors → charge → detail
Floris had been the deputy assistant director of the FBI and “functional head” of the bureau’s Foreign Influence Task Force, which ran a covert operation before the 2020 election called “Round River,” specifically to collect all derogatory reports about Hunter Biden from FBI informants and falsely flag them as “Russian disinformation.” asserted
which → run → disinformation
Benavides was the Section Chief of FITF, and he and Floris were “active participants in regularly classified briefings they hosted for the FBI agents and prosecutors on the Hunter Biden case, prosecutors allege. asserted
prosecutors → host → case
Yet Benavides also professed ignorance when he testified to the House Judiciary Committee, claiming he only became aware of the FBI’s possession and investigation of Hunter’s laptop because he read a “Wikipedia article” while preparing his testimony. asserted
he → profess → testimony
Prosecutors allege the pair requested frequent briefings from the Hunter Biden case team. asserted
pair → allege → team
After The Post broke the story about the laptop in October 2020, they convened multiple meetings to handle the fallout, even writing talking points for FBI Director Chris Wray. asserted
they → break → Wray
Every week, Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington on ‘Pod Force One.’ asserted
Devine → sit → Force
In August 2020, Floris and Benavides were the FBI agents who conducted a bogus “defensive briefing” for Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson when the Republican senators were conducting a financial investigation into millions of dollars paid to Hunter Biden by corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma when his father was the vice president. asserted
father → conduct → company
Grassley and Johnson have always said the briefing was a political setup designed to discredit their investigation by smearing it as Russian disinformation — and, sure enough, details were later leaked to The Washington Post. A few weeks after that briefing, Floris confided to a colleague: “I’m basically running a shadow government across the FBI,” as revealed in a recently declassified internal FBI chat from Sept. 25, 2020. They knew plenty Benavides had known since as early as March 2019 about allegations that Hunter Biden had received millions of dollars from foreign entities when his father was vice president. He was one of four FBI agents sent to Brussels to interview Gal Luft, the Israeli-American professor who tipped off the FBI that Hunter and his uncle Jim Biden were receiving corrupt payments from Chinese energy company CEFC. asserted
Hunter → say → CEFC
“Benavides was one of the four FBI agents who were in Brussels in March 2019,” Luft told me on Friday. asserted
Luft → tell → Friday
“Benavides sat right in front of me and asked me questions. asserted
Benavides → sit → questions
He seemed quite knowledgeable about CEFC operations and personalities . . . “Most of the details about the corruption were in the hands of the FBI and SDNY months before the laptop. asserted
Most → seem → laptop
In fact, they knew about it before Biden even announced his candidacy [in April 2019]. asserted
Biden → know → April
Why didn’t the FBI give Biden a defensive briefing? asserted
FBI → give → briefing
Instead, just before the November 2022 midterm elections, Luft was indicted on charges of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, violating US sanctions on Iran and making false statements. asserted
Luft → indict → statements
He was arrested in Cyprus and is currently on bail awaiting extradition. asserted
He → arrest → extradition
Meanwhile, Floris left the FBI last May for a lucrative job at Microsoft, where she joined her former mentor Lisa Monaco, the deputy AG who directed most of the lawfare against Trump and his allies during the Biden years. uncertain
who → leave → years
Benavides retired from the FBI in 2022 and was also parachuted into a plum job at Amazon as a senior risk manager. asserted
Benavides → retire → manager
But accountability has a funny way of showing up when you have given up all hope that justice will be served. asserted
justice → have → hope
Just when we had resigned ourselves to accepting that the Big Guy and his deep state accomplices had gotten away with their coverup, US Attorney Janine Pirro and FBI director Kash Patel delivered an October surprise that looks like being the start of something far bigger. asserted
that → resign → something
As Luft says: “Karma is a bitch.” asserted
Karma → say → ?
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