Florida residents Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander on Thursday pleaded guilty to stealing President Biden's daughter's diary, among other possessions, and selling it to conservative group Project Veritas as the 2020 election wound to a close, Fox News reports.
The pair appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave in New York City to plead guilty to "conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property" involving theft of personal belongings of an immediate family member to an ex-government official and candidate for national office. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Both individuals also agreed to turn over the money they received from Project Veritas, per The Washington Post.
The president's daughter, Ashley Biden, had stored the items in question (including a "highly personal" diary, "tax records, a digital storage card containing private family photographs, and a cellphone, among other things") in a Florida home where Harris later took up temporary residence, Fox News summarizes, per court documents. Harris then reportedly stole the items and asked Kurlander to help her sell them.
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.
Kurlander's plea deal also includes cooperating with the Justice Department's investigation into how Project Veritas obtained the diary, notes The New York Times. The conservative group maintained in a statement that their "news gathering was ethical and legal."
"I know what I did was wrong and awful, and I apologize," Kurlander said in court. "I sincerely apologize for any actions and know what I did was illegal," Harris added.
-
Trump’s deportations are starting to impact how we eatIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Department of Labor’s admission that immigration raids have affected America’s food supplies reopens a longstanding debate
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia JamesSpeed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia James
Speed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in ChicagoSpeed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
-
Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leadersSpeed Read The Texas National Guard begin operations in the Chicago area
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-offSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to ChicagoSpeed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
