A woman convicted of stealing Ashley Biden’s diary has been sentenced to one month in prison

A judge on Tuesday sentenced Aimee Harris to one month in prison and three months of home detention for stealing Ashley Biden’s diary and other items and selling them to a right-leaning group ahead of the 2020 election.

Judge Laura Swain denounced Harris’s conduct as serious during a hearing in New York and criticized her for delaying her sentencing hearing a dozen times. The judge said, though, that the Department of Justice’s request that Harris receive four to 10 months in prison was unnecessary, according to Inner City Press.

Harris had asked only for probation, and her defense attorney said in court that the defendant had been punished enough by negative press attention and had been working to overcome a slate of legal woes, not just from the diary theft but from child custody matters and a DUI charge, according to Inner City Press.

Harris repeatedly sought eleventh-hour delays to her sentencing hearing, which was originally scheduled for December 2022. She provided reasons on a last-minute basis to the court, such as sudden sickness, child care problems, and a lack of documentation for travel.

Harris’s sentencing comes after she pleaded guilty in August 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.

Harris had been temporarily residing at a home in Delray Beach, Florida, in 2020 when she came upon Ashley Biden’s handwritten diary, tax information, a digital camera, family photos, a phone, and other belongings, according to court documents.

The homeowner was a friend of Ashley Biden, then-candidate Joe Biden’s daughter, and had allowed the younger Biden to leave her belongings there, the court documents stated.

When Harris came upon the items, she and her co-defendant, Robert Kurlander, began conspiring on how they could make money off the items, prosecutors said.

About two months before the 2020 presidential election, Harris and Kurlander attempted to sell Ashley Biden’s diary and other items to then-President Donald Trump’s campaign because they believed the campaign could use the items to damage Trump’s political opponent. However, the Trump campaign rejected their offer and advised them to go to the FBI, the prosecutors said.

Harris and Kurlander then turned to Project Veritas, a right-leaning organization known for its controversial methods of gathering news through undercover recordings.

The pair traveled from Florida to New York to sell some of Ashley Biden’s possessions to Project Veritas, eventually receiving $20,000 apiece from the organization for the diary and other items.

As part of her penalty, Harris must also forfeit the money she received from the organization.

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Project Veritas, for its part, decided against publishing the diary and eventually gave it to the police. However, its former employees remain under investigation for their role in obtaining it. They have been wrapped up in a yearslong court battle with the DOJ over claims the government violated their First Amendment rights as journalists by seizing their phones and computers as part of the investigation.

Kurlander was set to be sentenced this week, but the judge rescheduled his hearing to Oct. 25 at the request of the DOJ in a sign that Kurlander is cooperating with the government investigation.

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