A Florida man and woman pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing first daughter Ashley Biden’s diary in the runup to the 2020 presidential election and selling it to far-right activist group Project Veritas.
Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander admitted to conspiracy to transport stolen property before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave in Manhattan. Kurlander is cooperating with the Justice Department in a probe into the stolen notebook. They were released after signing sizable bond packages.
Harris, 40, stole Biden’s handwritten journal — which the feds say contained “highly personal” entries, private family photos, tax information and more — in September 2020 from a Delray Beach, Fla., house where she was staying and left luggage behind.
Harris sought the help of Kurlander, 58, to sell the diary and other items she stole from Biden’s bags. He told her to bring them to a Trump fund-raiser event.
“Omg. Coming with stuff that neither one of us have seen or spoken about,” Harris texted back on Sept. 6, 2020. “I can’t wait to show you what Mama has to bring Papa.”
But the Trump campaign thought the highly sensitive information was too hot to touch.
“(Trump) campaign can’t use it. They want it to go to the FBI. There is NO WAY (Trump) can use this. It has to be done a different way,” Kurlander texted Harris on Sept. 10.
Within days, the pair connected with Westchester-based Project Veritas. The group of activists that markets itself as a news organization was founded by conservative provocateur and convicted felon James O’Keefe. It’s known for producing deceptively edited videos showing undercover ambushes of liberal targets.
Project Veritas operatives flew Harris and Kurlander to New York and hatched a successful plan at the Manhattan hotel to steal more of the first daughter’s belongings.
The partners-in-crime knew exactly who they were doing business with, according to typo-laden texts in evidence.
“They are in a sketchy business and here they are taking what’s literally a stolen diary and info (...) and trying to make a story that will ruin (Ashley Biden’s) life and try and (affect) the election,” Kurlander wrote Harris on Sept. 14.
The president and his daughter are not named in the court documents. Trump is described as “Candidate-2.”
“Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “(They) now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result.”
O’Keefe, 38, who has carried out Project Veritas’ more extreme stunts, has defended the diary’s purchase. His house was searched by the FBI last year.
Kurlander and Harris face up to five years in federal prison when sentenced.
Harris’ lawyer Sanford Talkin said his client wants to put the whole chapter behind her.
“She accepted responsibility for her conduct, and she looks forward to moving on to a productive life in the future.”
Kurlander’s attorney had no comment.
Lawyers for Project Veritas did not return requests for comment. Ashley Biden’s attorney Roberta Kaplan declined to comment.
