Details About The Drama Surrounding Ashley Biden's Stolen Diary

In August 2022, Aimee Harris pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell and transporting over state lines the stolen property of Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden. Out of all the stolen items, Ashley's diary was the most notable, as it was sold to a far-right activist group in 2020 with the intent of influencing the presidential election.

The resulting sentence was announced in April 2024, with the Florida woman being fined $20,000 as well as sentenced to one month in federal jail and three months of home detention. Her co-conspirator, Robert Kurlander, similarly pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in October 2024. While an element of the case has come to a close, the alleged content of the diary continues to be a contentious topic online.

While the diary was not initially published online by Project Veritas, the infamous organization who bought the stolen item, it was posted by The National File in November 2020. The validity of the published pages has been debated since then, but a statement made by Ashley seemingly confirms the authenticity of the diary.

Ashley Biden has learned many important lessons from her father, but little could've prepared her for the theft of one of her most personal belongings. As reported by The New York Times, Aimee Harris possessed Biden's diary after moving to Delray Beach, Florida to stay with an ex-boyfriend. At the time, the mother of two was reportedly in the midst of a custody battle and low on money.

Upon moving to the property, she learned that the greatly transformed Biden, who was a friend of her former boyfriend, had stayed in the house months prior. The political activist had left some of her belongings in the possession of her friend after moving back to the Philadelphia area with the understanding that she would retrieve them soon after. However, when Harris learned of the items, which included tax records and a digital storage card, she conspired with her friend Robert Kurlander to sell the journal to the Trump administration, hoping it could be used in the 2020 presidential campaign.

While their initial attempts at a sale didn't pan out, they were able to sell the stolen goods to Project Veritas. "Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "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."

For years after the online publication of Ashley Biden's alleged diary, there was much debate about the authenticity of the document. Even Project Veritas, who initially purchased the stolen item, was reportedly hesitant to publish it given its unverifiable origins. However, many individuals believe that a letter penned by Biden to the U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain authenticates the online document.

Biden wrote the letter in place of attending Aimee Harris' criminal sentencing, which she said "would only increase my pain" (per CNBC). In expressing her request for a prison sentence and probation period for the defendant, the Delaware native also conveyed the suffering that the crime had caused her. "The defendant's actions have created a constant environment of anxiety, fear, and intimidation in which my innermost thoughts are constantly distorted and manipulated," Biden wrote. "I will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online."

Ashley went on to seemingly refer to excerpts of the diary which have been used to frame President Joe Biden as a pedophile. "Repeatedly, I hear others grossly misinterpret my once-private writings and lob false accusations that defame my character and those of the people I love," she said. In this way, while Ashley seems to confirm the general validity of the published diary, it's clear that she doesn't appreciate or condone the way it's been interpreted and used in the media.