
In a courtroom in Manhattan, a Florida mother named Aimee Harris received a sentence that included a month of incarceration followed by three months of house arrest. Harris was convicted for her role in stealing and subsequently selling the personal diary belonging to Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden, four years prior. The stolen diary was sold to the right-leaning organization, Project Veritas.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain, presiding over the Manhattan Federal Court, passed down the judgment. She didn’t mince words as she described Harris’s actions as “despicable”. The woman in question hails from Palm Beach, Florida.
In a prior court appearance in August 2022, Harris admitted to her guilt, pleading to a conspiracy charge. It was revealed that she had received half of the $40,000 payment from Project Veritas, the group that purchased the stolen personal effects from her.
Project Veritas, established in 2010, is recognized as a controversial organization. It has made a name for itself by conducting surreptitious sting operations and hidden camera exposés that have led to the embarrassment of several news organizations, labor unions, and Democratic politicians.
As the proceedings concluded on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, a clearly distraught Harris stepped out of the Manhattan Federal Court. When addressing the court earlier, she tearfully apologized for her role in selling Ashley Biden’s private musings. According to her, the diary and other items were discovered at a friend’s home in Delray Beach, Florida in 2020. Ashley Biden had stored her belongings there, believing they would remain secure during a temporary stay the previous spring.
Despite her misdeeds, Harris stridently affirmed, “I do not believe I am above the law.” She explained her failure to appear at several previous sentencing dates by citing the demands of caring for her two young children, aged 8 and 6. She also revealed a personal history of long-term domestic abuse and sexual trauma to the court.
In a heartfelt expression of contrition, Harris personally apologized to Ashley Biden in the courtroom. Ashley’s attorney observed from the spectators’ section as Harris expressed regret for publicizing her personal history.
Delivering the sentence, Judge Swain pointed out that Harris, along with a co-defendant, Robert Kurlander of Jupiter, Florida, had made an unsuccessful attempt to sell Ashley’s personal belongings, including the diary, to the Trump 2020 campaign. She drew attention to the fact that Harris’s motivation was not solely financial but also political, aiming to influence the national political landscape.
Both Harris and Kurlander pled guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines. Kurlander’s sentencing is pending.
Harris’s defense attorney, Anthony Cecutti, asked for leniency due to Harris’s traumatic background, and her current struggle to raise two children as a survivor of abuse. Cecutti claimed Harris carried “the shame and stigma of her actions.”
However, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman, argued for a prison term, arguing Harris showed a “pattern of disrespect for the law and the justice system.”. He asserted that Harris played the victim while Ashley Biden was the true sufferer in this scenario. He detailed how Harris had stolen everything from Ashley Biden’s diary to her clothes and luggage simply to make money, and in an attempt to smear her father’s image.
Upon the conclusion of her sentencing, Harris was informed she would need to report to prison in July. As she exited the courtroom, she offered no comment to awaiting journalists. Ashley Biden’s attorney also elected to stay silent, declining to provide a statement despite submitting a letter on behalf of his client to the judge the preceding day. This letter was not immediately made available in the court record.