Ashley Biden’s Diary: Everything We Know

The jailing this week of Aimee Harris, who pleaded guilty to stealing Ashley Biden’s diary, sparked an outcry among conservatives who tried to defame the president. Joe Biden in the scandal.

Harris was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan to one month in prison and three months of home confinement for stealing the president’s daughter’s diary, before selling it to the conservative media Project Veritas.

Harris, who was also sentenced to three years of probation, including house arrest, pleaded guilty in 2022, along with Robert Kurlander, then 58, to conspiring to transport stolen property across state lines. State.

Swain called Harris’ conduct “despicable” and “abhorrent” in the courtroom, according to reporter Pete Brush. The judge also said she acted voluntarily.

The newspaper’s contents are controversial and remain unconfirmed. However, Harris’ prison sentence brought the story back to life again. News week examined the facts.

How was the diary found?

According to an Associated Press report covering the Harris lawsuit, Ashley Biden was leaving a friend’s house in Delray Beach, Florida, in the spring of 2020 when she stored the diary and other personal belongings at the property. Prosecutors said Biden believed the items had been stored safely.

Harris then moved into the same room, found the items and contacted Kurlander, of neighboring Jupiter, who told him he would help sell them for “a ton of money.”

Prosecutors say the two men made an unsuccessful bid to sell it to the Trump 2020 campaign for $20,000 per person. It was later sold for $40,000 to Project Veritas, a media organization known for its controversial reporting.

Project Veritas did not publish the diary because it could not verify that it belonged to Ashley Biden. However, as fact-checker Snopes reports, another conservative outlet, The National File, published in November 2020 what it says is “a copy of the full diary of Ashley Blazer Biden, the candidate’s 39-year-old daughter Democrat for President Joe.” Biden, dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign.”

The Intercept and New York Magazine both reported that the diary was allegedly leaked to the National File by a Project Veritas source.

In 2021, federal agents searched several New York homes of people affiliated with Project Veritas, and its founder James O’Keefe said he received a grand jury subpoena because of the paper.

O’Keefe said the group had never “engaged in any illegal conduct” and said he had “no doubt that Project Veritas acted appropriately at every step.” He said his group attempted to return the diary to an attorney for Ashely Biden and then provided it to law enforcement, although he did not specify which agency the group contacted.

Harris and Kurlander

Harris and Kurlander were investigated, charged and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.

An August 2022 statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the couple traveled to New York with the stolen property to make the sale and returned to Florida to obtain more property. They each received $20,000.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that “Harris and Kurlander stole the personal property of an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office.”

“They sold the property to a New York organization for $40,000 and even returned to take more of the victim’s property when asked to do so. Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of the property personal property of others, and they are now convicted of as a result, a federal crime.

Prosecutors have said they want tougher penalties for Harris, who has failed to appear in numerous court appearances. THE Department of Justice (DOJ) initially requested six months of home confinement before significantly increasing that request to four to 10 months in prison.

Harris cited her obligations to her children and family, as well as her apology to Ashley Biden, as a plea for leniency from the court. She also reportedly noted the way she had been treated by the media, saying she understood what it meant to be scrutinized in such a forum.

Harris was also ordered to repay the $20,000 she was paid for the stolen property.

The Unverified Journal

Snopes reported in March 2023 that reports and circumstantial evidence “strongly” suggest that the stolen diary belonged to Ashley Biden.

However, neither the contents of the diary nor its authenticity have been confirmed by law or by government authorities. The investigation and prosecution of the diary theft led to erroneous claims that officials and Project Veritas confirmed the document’s authenticity during legal proceedings. However, as Snopes reported in March 2023, these were based on misreadings of court documents and statements.

Despite the controversy and lack of verification surrounding the newspaper’s acquisition, conservative commentators such as Liberals Tic Tac and Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene used the scandal to attack the president. Greene suggested that Harris’ arrest and the circumstances surrounding it constituted a cover-up.

News week contacted a representative for Ashley Biden and the White House for comment.