A 41-year-old woman named Aimee Harris has been sentenced to a month in prison and three months of home confinement for stealing a diary belonging to Joe Biden’s daughter and selling it to a conservative organization.
She pleaded guilty in 2022 to a charge of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines and was sentenced in federal court in New York.
Harris, a resident of Palm Beach, Florida, admitted to receiving $20,000 from Project Veritas, a group known for conducting hidden-camera stings on news outlets, government officials, and politicians.
The court also ordered her to forfeit the money she received.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain referred to Harris’ actions as “despicable and consequently very serious.”
Harris had taken personal items belonging to Ashley Biden, including a diary, from a house in Delray Beach, Florida, where Ashley had stayed in 2020.
The property’s owner allowed Harris to stay there, and she discovered Biden’s items. Harris, along with a co-defendant named Robert Kurlander, attempted to sell the diary to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
When that failed, they approached Project Veritas.
Harris’ co-defendant, Kurlander, has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at a later date.
As part of the investigation into the charges, FBI agents searched the homes of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe and two employees, although O’Keefe and the organization itself have not been charged in this case.
Project Veritas did not publish the diaries, which reportedly detailed Ashley Biden’s recovery from substance addiction; however, a different right-wing outlet later published what it claimed were the diaries, with some redactions.
Ben Wetmore, president of Project Veritas’s board of directors, mentioned that the organization handed over the diary to authorities.
Wetmore also stated that investigators seized devices, intercepted communications, and made Project Veritas spend a substantial amount in court to defend themselves and the First Amendment, despite no charges being filed against anyone from the organization.
After pleading guilty, Harris missed several sentencing hearings. She apologized to the court during her final hearing, explaining that she was preoccupied with caring for her two children.
She also apologized to Ashley Biden directly. Prosecutors, in a sentencing memo, noted that Harris was driven by both money and politics, emphasizing that stealing personal belongings for political gain was unlawful and unacceptable, regardless of the political agenda involved.
Source-BBC
