New charges filed against ex-FBI officials in Hunter Biden probe

Federal prosecutors have filed new criminal charges against two former FBI counterintelligence officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, related to their roles in investigations of Hunter Biden, CBS News reported.

The superseding complaint, which is unsigned and unsworn, was filed early Tuesday just hours before the defendants were scheduled to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C. for a preliminary hearing.

At the hearing, defense attorneys are expected to challenge the government's witness and the sufficiency of the complaint to establish probable cause of a crime, according to CBS News.

The timing and nature of the complaint have drawn criticism from former prosecutors and federal officials, who noted that felony complaints are usually reserved for urgent matters and that Justice Department guidelines discourage overt investigative actions in politically sensitive cases near elections.

Floris' legal team issued a statement calling the filing unprecedented and suggesting it was an attempt to fix issues with the original charge and add a meritless new charge, as reported by CBS News.