JULY 19, 2026
Former FBI counterintelligence official Nikki Floris identified as author of "shadow government" email cited by Trump
Newly declassified FBI messages identify Nikki Floris, a former senior FBI counterintelligence official who served as the bureau's 2020 election security lead, as the author of an email in which she wrote she was "basically running a shadow government across the FBI." President Trump cited the same phrase during a primetime address, accusing federal officials of concealing intelligence about Chinese election interference from his administration without naming Floris directly.
The September 25, 2020 email exchange, declassified by the Trump administration, shows Floris telling a colleague that an Intelligence Information Report concerning China had been recalled. The report contained a confidential-source allegation that Chinese officials were producing fraudulent U.S. driver's licenses to create tens of thousands of mail-in ballots for former President Joe Biden. The FBI document itself noted it did not contain finally-evaluated intelligence and that the reporting had not been fully assessed or integrated with other information.
Records previously released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) show that FBI headquarters ordered the report recalled shortly after it was disseminated. Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee release said Floris was among the headquarters officials involved in that recall request. The committee stated the move prevented other FBI field offices and intelligence agencies from accessing and studying the report. According to Grassley, the FBI's stated reason for recalling the report was concern that its contents would contradict then-FBI Director Christopher Wray's congressional testimony.
An FBI analyst in Albany objected internally to the decision, saying the concern about political implications was troubling and inconsistent with the bureau's responsibility to remain apolitical, according to the Washington Examiner's reporting. In his address, Trump also said that one email among intelligence analysts "admitted that they had deliberately massaged the presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election."