Woman who stole diary of Joe Biden’s daughter sentenced to a month in prison

Aimee Harris, a woman from Florida, United States, was sentenced to a month in prison for stealing the diary of US President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, and selling it to a conservative advocacy group, as per a report in The New York Times.

Terming Harris’ actions as “despicable,” Judge Laura Taylor Swain of Manhattan federal court ruled on Tuesday (April 9) that the 41-year-old would face one-month jail time, three months of home detention and three years’ probation.

Harris stole Ashley Biden’s diary and other belongings from a friend’s in Delray Beach in 2020. The President’s daughter had kept them at her friend’s home for safekeeping. Harris, according to reports, received $20,000 from Project Veritas, a far-right organisation, for selling the journal in the hope of disrupting the 2020 Presidential election. Meanwhile, Ashley described what happened to her as “one of the most heinous forms of bullying.”

In 2022, Harris entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiring to transfer stolen goods across states. However, she missed many sentencing sessions. On Tuesday, she expressed her regret to the court and said she was busy caring for her two children. “I do not believe I am above the law. I’m a survivor of long-term domestic abuse and sexual trauma,” she was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

Harris was charged along with a friend, Robert Kurlander, who helped her with selling the diary. Initially, they sought a settlement with a representative from Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. However, when this fell through, they were advised by the campaign’s representative to hand over the diary and associated materials to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Subsequently, they sold the diary to Project Veritas.

FBI officials conducted searches at the residences of James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, and two of his colleagues as part of an investigation into the matter. Although Project Veritas and O’Keefe were not charged, they came under scrutiny. While Project Veritas initially held onto the journals, which chronicled Ashley Biden’s recovery journey from substance abuse, they were eventually published by another outlet with minor edits, as per BBC. The diary was ultimately turned over to law enforcement by Project Veritas.

Prosecutors, in their sentencing memorandum, condemned the act of stealing personal belongings of a candidate’s family member and selling them for political motives, stating it was both morally wrong and illegal, regardless of any political agenda.

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