两名前FBI高级官员被控向国会作虚假陈述：检方称二人隐瞒外国影响工作组与亨特·拜登调查的关联
美国司法部10月23日宣布，两名前联邦调查局（FBI）高级官员 Nikki Floris 与 Bradley Benavides 已被提起刑事指控，各被控一项向国会作虚假陈述。二人周五向当局自首，并在华盛顿的联邦法院首次出庭。哥伦比亚特区联邦检察官 Jeanine Pirro 在社交平台 X 上公布了这一指控。（GSM 据 CNN 与《今日美国》报道）
根据周五解封的刑事诉状，Floris 现年46岁，住在弗吉尼亚州 Alexandria；Benavides 现年56岁，住在南卡罗来纳州 Aiken。诉状称，二人2023年在众议院司法委员会作证时，隐瞒了 FBI 外国影响工作组（Foreign Influence Task Force）与亨特·拜登调查之间的接触与沟通，并妨碍了国会的调查。检方称，其中一人在作证时表示自己是从维基百科上得知笔记本电脑调查的，但内部邮件、即时通讯记录与证人证词显示，二人曾在2020年大选前参与讨论亨特·拜登的笔记本电脑，并参与塑造与之相关的公开叙事。
Floris 曾于2019年至2022年担任外国影响工作组的副助理局长，Benavides 曾于2019年至2020年大选期间担任该工作组的科长。外国影响工作组于2017年设立，负责应对外国隐蔽影响与选举干预，现已解散。虚假陈述罪名一旦成立，每人最高可面临5年监禁。诉状共27页，本案目前以刑事诉状而非大陪审团起诉书的形式提出。
Pirro 在公布指控时说：「当高级 FBI 特工向国会撒谎、自以为凌驾于法律之上时，就该让正义之锤落下。」她还表示，当受托守护国家安全的高级官员选择欺骗而非履职，他们就破坏了自己宣誓维护的制度。FBI 局长 Kash Patel 表示，这项指控源于对这个已解散工作组的调查，文件证据、同期通讯记录与证人证词都与二人的证词相矛盾，并称「无人能凌驾于法律之上」；Patel 还称，Floris 曾在私下声称自己在运作一个「影子政府」。
主审本案初次出庭的联邦治安法官 Zia Faruqui 周五在庭上表示，这些指控与「亨特·拜登的笔记本电脑及相关指控」有关。他同时指出，两名被告都是有长期公职记录的人员，并对检方以刑事诉状就多年前的行为提出指控的做法表示这一程序并不寻常。本案初步听证定于下周二（10月27日）举行，二人获准在候审期间保持自由。
被告一方否认指控。Floris 的律师表示，这些指控建立在政客的一面之词之上、并非事实，称 Floris 是一名爱国者，并称检方此时提出指控意在推动一种虚假叙事以获取政治分数。被告方的代表还对案件依据二手说法提出质疑。刑事诉状只是指控，二人尚未被判有罪。
Two Former Senior FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress Over Hunter Biden Investigations
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on October 23 that two former senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, have been charged criminally, each with one count of making false statements to Congress. The two surrendered to authorities on Friday and made their initial appearances in federal court in Washington. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the charges in a post on X. (GSM, based on reporting by CNN and USA Today)
According to the criminal complaint unsealed on Friday, Floris, 46, lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and Benavides, 56, lives in Aiken, South Carolina. The complaint says that when the two testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 2023, they concealed the FBI Foreign Influence Task Force's engagement with and communications about the Hunter Biden investigations and impeded the congressional investigation. Prosecutors say one of them testified that he had learned of the laptop investigation from Wikipedia, while internal emails, instant messages and witness accounts show the two discussed Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 election and helped shape the public narrative around it.
Floris served as a deputy assistant director overseeing the Foreign Influence Task Force from 2019 to 2022, and Benavides served as the task force's section chief from 2019 through the 2020 election. The task force, created in 2017 to counter covert foreign influence and election interference, has since been disbanded. A false-statements conviction carries a maximum of five years in prison for each defendant. The charges were brought in a 27-page criminal complaint rather than a grand jury indictment.
Announcing the charges, Pirro said: "When senior FBI agents lie to Congress believing they are above the law, it's time to bring the hammer of justice down on them." She added that when senior officials entrusted with safeguarding the nation's security choose deception over duty, they undermine the institutions they swore to uphold. FBI Director Kash Patel said the charges resulted from an investigation into the since-dissolved task force, that documentary evidence, contemporaneous communications and witness accounts contradicted the pair's testimony, and that "no one is above the law." Patel also said Floris was on record privately claiming to be running a "shadow government."
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui, who presided over Friday's initial appearance, said the charges were related to "Hunter Biden's laptop and allegations around that." He described both defendants as longtime public servants with strong records and noted that bringing charges by criminal complaint over conduct from years earlier was unusual. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, and both defendants will remain free pending further proceedings.
The defense denied the allegations. Floris's lawyers said the charges rested on the say-so of politicians rather than the facts, called her a patriot, and said the decision to charge her was aimed at pushing a false narrative for political points. Representatives for the defense also questioned the case's reliance on secondhand accounts. A criminal complaint is only an allegation, and neither defendant has been convicted.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：位于华盛顿的联邦调查局总部 J. Edgar Hoover 大楼入口（资料图）。照片：Tony Webster，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons
