Two Florida residents pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing and selling warrants that court documents say belonged to Ashley Biden, the daughter of US President Joe Biden. Defendants Amy Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, sold the diaries to the conservative activist group Project Veritas.
In 2020, according to court documents, Ashley Biden was staying at a friend’s house in Delray Beach, Florida, where she kept her diaries and other belongings.
After Biden left, he invited boyfriend/girlfriend Amy Harris to stay home temporarily. Two months later, Harris contacted Kurlander and asked for help selling the diaries and other possessions, such as family photos, prosecutors said.
The duo went looking for a buyer before the US presidential election in November 2020, and sold everything to Project Veritas, who paid them $20,000 each.
Ashley Biden and Project Veritas are not mentioned by name in the latest court documents, but prosecutors and the conservative group have already raised an investigation into another Project Veritas lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that began last year.
A lawyer for Project Veritas said in a statement last November that two people named AH and RK had offered the memos for sale to the group. The organization’s lawyers then negotiated the sale with the duo. Attorney Paul Calley claimed Thursday that the news gathering at Project Veritas was “ethical and legal.” “The lawful receipt by a journalist of material he later claimed was stolen is common and protected under the First Amendment,” he said.
Although the sellers claimed that they obtained the diaries legally, Project Veritas decided not to publish an article about it because it could not be confirmed that the diaries belonged to Ashley Biden, it said. Instead, they passed the diary to the Florida police.
Harris and Kurlander each face a maximum of five years in prison. Harris’ attorney, Sam Token, said his client “has accepted responsibility for her behavior and is looking forward to moving forward with her life.”
Kurlander’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Roberta Kaplan, Ashley Biden’s attorney, declined to comment.
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