US President Joe Biden hugs his daughter Ashley after being sworn in on the West Front of the US Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. At today’s inauguration ceremony, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States.
Erin Schaaf | Getty Images
Two men pleaded guilty in federal court in New York on Thursday in connection with the theft and sale of Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Joe Biden.
The defendants, Amy Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, conspired to steal items from Florida and transport them across state lines in 2020, when Ashley’s father was a Democratic candidate for the White House.
Neither Biden was named in the indictment.
But the details of the case match those reported by New York federal prosecutors into the theft of Ashley’s diary, which occurred weeks before the 2020 presidential election. “The former government official at the time was a candidate for national office,” the indictment says.
President Biden is a former US Senator and Vice President.
Ashley’s diary, which she left behind at the house she was renting in Daly Beach, Florida, was eventually sold to Project Veritas, a right-wing group that produces inflammatory videos and investigations designed to embarrass media outlets and other targets.
Harris later temporarily stayed at Ashley’s residence and found possessions that the victim had left behind, including a journal and a digital storage card.
The indictment charged that the company that bought the stolen property from Harris and Kurlander paid each of them $20,000.
The charging document says Harris asked Kurlander to sell some of the victims’ property.
The document states that Harris and Kurlander attended a campaign fundraiser in Florida in September 2020 for a man identified as Candidate-2, who was running against the victim’s father. It is understood that the fundraiser was for then-President Donald Trump.
Four days later, a Trump campaign representative told Harris and Kurlander that the campaign had no interest in buying the stolen property, the indictment says.
Kurlander then texted Harris, saying,[Candidate-2] Campaign cannot use it. They want him to go to the FBI. oh no [Candidate-2] This can be used. It has to be done differently.”
“Harris and Kurlander stole personal property belonging to an immediate family member of a candidate for national political office,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Thursday.
“They sold the property to an organization in New York for $40,000 and in fact, when they were asked to take the victim’s property, they came back to take more,” Williams said.
“Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from the theft of another person’s personal property, and as a result, they were convicted of a federal felony,” he said.
Both defendants face up to five years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.