Steve Castor did not attend the congressional transcribed interview of Bradley Benavides and did not read the transcript prior to advising the FBI on materiality

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Former Federal Bureau of Investigation officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides were charged by criminal complaint with making false statements during their 2023 House Judiciary Committee testimony

Kash Patel directed an FBI investigation into Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides the day after Donald Trump delivered a July 16 speech discussing 2020 election interference

Assistant United States Attorney James Kirkpatrick argued that Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides sought to conceal the Foreign Influence Task Force's evaluation of the Hunter Biden laptop

Federal prosecutors relied on House Judiciary Committee Republican general counsel Steve Castor to substantiate the materiality element of the false statement charges against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides

An audio recording disclosed in court documented special counsel Carlton Davis seeking assistance regarding Steve Castor's absence from Bradley Benavides' congressional testimony

The Federal Bureau of Investigation originally collected committee assessments on materiality through written questions without providing exact transcripts of Nikki Flores and Bradley Benavides's House Judiciary Committee testimony

Federal prosecutors initiated criminal charges against James Comey in October 2026 using a criminal information without obtaining a waiver of indictment

Special Agent Brian Witt testified that the Federal Bureau of Investigation established no motive for Nikki Floris or Bradley Benavides to lie to Congress

Special Agent Brian Witt testified that Kash Patel, Chris Rea, and Andrew Bailey held regular high-level meetings to review the Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides investigation

Bradley Benavides answered in the negative when asked in the present tense by congressional committee interviewers whether Bradley Benavides knew where Hunter Biden's laptop was

Special Agent Brian Witt conceded during cross-examination that one question posed to Nikki Floris concerned a hypothetical laptop rather than an actual laptop

Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqi presided over a multi-day preliminary probable cause hearing for former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides in October 2026

Prosecutors identified four alleged false statements made by Nikki Floris and four alleged false statements made by Bradley Benavides during their congressional testimonies

The criminal complaint against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides alleged false statements regarding knowledge of or involvement in investigations related to Hunter Biden

In 1957, after Senator Estes Kefauver voted against Lyndon B. Johnson on a legislative motion, Johnson assigned a coveted Foreign Relations Committee seat to Senator John F. Kennedy

In 1957, Lyndon B. Johnson bypassed Senator Estes Kefauver and assigned a vacant Senate Foreign Relations Committee seat to John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson altered the Senate Democratic caucus rules to assign committee seats through the Democratic Steering Committee rather than strictly by seniority

Lyndon B. Johnson altered Senate Democratic procedure to assign committee seats through the Democratic Steering Committee rather than seniority

Prior to Lyndon B. Johnson's leadership, United States Senate committee assignments were determined strictly by seniority for approximately one century

In September 2026, ProPublica reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned an inquiry into Susan Collins's ties to a defense contractor whose former chief executive was imprisoned for illegal donations