Attorneys for a former FBI agent charged with lying to Congress about the probe into Hunter Biden's laptop computer called the charges "a serious abuse of the criminal charging process" Tuesday.

The Justice Department on Friday charged two former senior FBI officials for allegedly making false statements to Congress, stemming from a probe into whether investigators in the lead-up to the 2020 election sought to suppress or discredit the veracity of material on the laptop of former President Joe Biden's son that included embarrassing photos and videos.

Nikki Floris, the former deputy assistant director for FBI's Counterintelligence Division, and Bradley Benavides, another former senior counterintelligence official, both appeared Friday in a federal district court in D.C., where they were charged through a criminal complaint with making false statements to Congress.