A pair of Florida residents pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court Thursday to stealing the diary and other property belonging to President Joe Biden‘s daughter Ashley and selling them to the conservative investigative group Project Veritas.
Aimee Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, took part in transporting stolen materials from Florida, where the president’s daughter had been living, to New York, where Project Veritas is headquartered. Their actions took place in the final weeks ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with the pair first seeking to sell the materials to former President Donald Trump‘s campaign.
“Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,” Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
Criminal records provided as part of their guilty plea show they received $20,000 each for the materials offered.
PROJECT VERITAS SCANDAL SPARKS SCRUTINY OF FEDERAL COURTS’ SECRET SPYING WARRANTS
The Justice Department published statements made in court, appearing to refer to Project Veritas as an “Organization” that allegedly offered to pay the pair’s transportation costs to New York City along with the property they took from Florida.
The court records further suggest Project Veritas asked the pair to return to Florida to gather more of Biden’s daughter’s property after Harris said there was “additional property” she could access.
“After the meeting, and at the Organization’s request, HARRIS and KURLANDER returned to Florida to obtain more of the Victim’s property in order to provide it to the Organization. They later met with an Organization employee in Florida and gave that employee more of the Victim’s stolen property, believing that the Organization would transport or cause the transport of the stolen property from Florida to the Organization’s offices in New York, which the Organization subsequently did,” according to the DOJ press release.
The pair surrendered themselves to authorities on Thursday and both were released from custody after the hearing. They both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Before offering the materials to Project Veritas, Kurlander and Harris first asked Trump’s 2020 campaign about purchasing the stolen items.
Federal prosecutors alleged the pair attended a Sept. 6 fundraiser that year “with the intent of showing the Victim’s stolen property to a campaign representative … hoping that the political campaign would purchase it.”
Text messages submitted into evidence depict an exchange between Kurlander and Harris on Sept. 10, 2020, saying the Trump campaign “can’t use it” and that “They want it to go to the FBI. There is NO WAY [Trump] can use this. It has to be done a different way.”
It is unclear whether anyone at Project Veritas would be subject to DOJ charges, and the organization did not publish the diary. The group’s founder, James O’Keefe, has denied any wrongdoing amid an investigation involving a raid on his home.
However, the right-wing news outlet National File reported a whistleblower from Project Veritas provided a digital copy of Ashley Biden’s diary to the outlet just days before the 2020 election.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A spokesperson for Project Veritas told the Washington Examiner its “news gathering was ethical and legal” in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“A journalist’s lawful receipt of material later alleged to be stolen is routine, commonplace, and protected by the First Amendment,” the statement added.
