Ashley Biden's Diary—Everything We Know

The imprisonment this week of Aimee Harris, who pled guilty to stealing Ashley Biden's diary, has led to an uproar among conservatives who have tried to smear President Joe Biden in the scandal.

Harris was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan to a month in prison and three months of home confinement for stealing the diary belonging to the president's daughter, later selling it to the conservative media outlet Project Veritas.

Harris, who was also given three years' probation of which home detention is included, pleaded guilty in 2022, with Robert Kurlander, then 58, to conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines.

Swain called Harris' conduct "despicable" and "heinous," in the courtroom, according to reporter Pete Brush. The judge also said she was willful in her actions.

The diary's contents are controversial and remain unconfirmed. However, Harris' prison sentence has brought the story's history around again. Newsweek has examined the facts.

How was the diary found?

According to an Associated Press report covering Harris' prosecution, Ashley Biden was moving out of a friend's home in Delray Beach, Florida, in Spring 2020, when she stored the diary and other belongings at the property. Prosecutors said Biden had believed the items had been stored safely.

Harris later moved into the same room, found the items, and contacted Kurlander, of nearby Jupiter, who said he would help sell them for a "ton of money."

Prosecutors say the pair made a failed offer 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 undercover news stories.

Project Veritas did not publish the diary, as it couldn't verify it belonged to Ashley Biden. However, as reported by fact checkers Snopes, another conservative media outlet, The National File, published in November 2020 what it said was "a copy of the complete diary of Ashley Blazer Biden, the 39-year-old daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, dating from during the 2020 presidential campaign."

The Intercept and New York Magazine both reported that the diary was said to have been leaked to The National File from a source at Project Veritas.

In 2021, federal agents searched multiple New York homes of people affiliated with Project Veritas, and its founder James O'Keefe said it had received a grand jury subpoena because of the diary.

O'Keefe said that the group never "engaged in any illegal conduct" and said he had "no doubt Project Veritas acted appropriately at each and every step." He added his group tried to return the diary to a lawyer for Ashely Biden and later provided it to law enforcement, though he did not specify which agency the group contacted.

Harris and Kurlander

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

A U.S. Attorney's office statement from August 2022, stated the pair traveled with the stolen property to New York to make the sale and returned to Florida to obtain more property. They were each paid $20,000.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement "Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,"

"They sold the property to an organization in New York 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 another person's personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result."

Prosecutors have said they wanted stricter penalties for Harris, who was a no-show at numerous court appearances. The Department of Justice (DOJ) originally requested six months of home confinement before drastically upping that request to four to 10 months of prison time.

Harris cited obligations to her children and family, and her apologies to Ashley Biden, as a plea towards leniency from the court. She also reportedly made note of how she's been treated by the media, saying she understands what it's like to be scrutinized in such a forum.

Harris has also been ordered to pay back the $20,000 she was given for the stolen property.

The unverified diary

Snopes reported in March 2023 that reporting 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 government officials. The investigation and prosecution of the diary's theft led to misreported claims that officials and Project Veritas had confirmed the document's authenticity during the course of 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 diary's acquisition, conservative commentators such as Libs of TikTok and Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have used the scandal to attack the president. Greene has suggested that Harris' arrest and the circumstances around it amounted to a cover-up.

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Ashley Biden and the White House for comment.