DOJ investigates ties to Project Veritas in theft of Biden's daughter's diary


Federal agents in New York reportedly searched two Project Veritas-associated locations on Thursday as part of a Justice Department investigation into the theft and subsequent publication of President Biden's daughter's diary just before the 2020 election, The New York Times reports.
The two locations — one in New York City and the other in Westchester County — were reportedly linked to people who had worked with the conservative group and its leader James O'Keefe, according to two individuals with knowledge of the events.
Project Veritas did not publish Biden's daughter diary, but a slew of "handwritten pages were posted on a right wing website" in October of 2020, writes the Times, around the time former President Donald Trump was attempting to paint Hunter Biden as "engaging in corrupt business dealings." The site that did disclose the pages said it received the diary from "a whistle-blower who worked for a media organization that refused to publish a story about it before the election."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Project Veritas has been known to surreptitiously target Democratic campaigns and organizations, and at one point roped a former British spy named Richard Seddon into its undercover operations, writes the Times. Notably, the company that owns the site that published the diary's pages "is registered to the same [Wyoming] address as [Seddon's] company, Branch Six Consulting International." O'Keefe was also once the president of a company that later registered at that same address.
In New York, a long time Project Veritas operative and "confidante" of O'Keefe's Spencer Meads was living in the NYC apartment searched by the FBI on Thursday.
Agents knocked loudly on Mead's door for 10 minutes before forcing their way inside, a neighbor told the Times. She said agents were yelling, "Spencer, open up!" Read more at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Mexico’s forced disappearances
Under the Radar 130,000 people missing as 20-year war on drugs leaves ‘the country’s landscape ever more blood-soaked’
-
The Week contest: Racoon’s regrets
Puzzles and Quizzes
-
Housing costs: Is deregulation the answer?
Feature Washington, D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood is now leading the nation in new apartment construction
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
Why are Trump's health rumors about more than just presidential fitness?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Extended absences and unexplained bruises have raised concerns about both his well-being and his administration's transparency
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act