Two Florida Residents Plead Guilty to Selling Stolen Diary of President's Daughter Ashley Biden

By Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst -

Two Florida residents pleaded guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges for trying to sell the stolen diary Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden, according to prosecutors.

Aimee Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, admitted they stole the newspaper from a Delray Beach home

, federal officials said.

Court documents do not specifically identify Ashley Biden as the owner of the stolen newspaper, but our sister network NBC News confirmed the theft and that Project Veritas was under investigation.

The stolen items were identified in court documents as "personal belongings of an immediate family member of a former government official who was running for national political office."

The Bidens with their daughter Ashley in 2017. Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for GILT)

Harris, of Palm Beach, and Kurlander, of Jupiter, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property from one state to another.

His attorneys could not be immediately reached.

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Harris temporarily resided in the home where she discovered the handwritten diary and other items belonging to Ashley Biden, including tax records and a cell phone, prosecutors said.

Harris contacted Kurlander and asked him to help her sell the diary and a digital storage device with family photos that she also stole.

Kurlander told her he would help her "make a TON of money" from the sale of the stolen items.

They tried to sell them to the Trump presidential campaign, but were told they would not buy them and advised to turn the items over to the FBI, according to court documents.

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On September 10, 2020, Harris and Kurlander contacted Project Veritas and entered into discussions to sell the material.

They eventually did it for $40,000 and then tried to steal more items at the request of Project Veritas, according to prosecutors.

Court documents indicate that Kurlander texted Harris to say that Project Veritas was “in a dodgy business and here they are literally accepting a stolen diary and information” to try to run a story to bankrupt Ashley Biden and "alter the choice".

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Project Veritas said in a statement Thursday that

“The lawful acquisition by a journalist of material that is later alleged to have been stolen is routine, common, and protected by the First Amendment,” the statement added.

The organization did not acknowledge the $40,000 payment he allegedly made to acquire the material.

In a statement issued in November 2021, when the investigation first came to light, Project Veritas Executive Director James O'Keefe stated that his group had been approached by people claiming to have the diary, but that at They had finally decided not to publish it.

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“Late last year, we were contacted by whistleblowers claiming to have a copy of Ashley Biden's diary” and “whistleblowers indicated that they were negotiating with another media outlet to sell the diary to them,” said O'Keefe, whose organization is known for covertly producing videos to try to expose Democratic politicians, activists and the media.

“At the end of the day, we made the ethical decision that because we couldn't determine if the diary was authentic, if it did in fact belong to Ashley Biden, or if what it claimed had actually happened, we decided not to publish any excerpts from the diary.”

The statement added that

US Attorney Damian Williams issued a statement after the guilty pleas were announced.

“Harris and Kurlander stole personal property from an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,” Williams stated.

“They sold the property to an organization in New York for $40,000 and even went back to steal more items from the victim when someone asked them to.

Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft and as a result are now convicted of a federal crime."