Diary convict no-show
Evades sentencing in bid to sell journal of Biden’s daughter
A Florida woman convicted of stealing President Biden’s daughter’s diary from a Delray Beach rental to sell to far-right group Project Veritas was a no-show at her sentencing for the second time on Wednesday.
An attorney for Aimee Harris, 41, convinced Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Swain to give his client “one more, final time” to appear in court before sending a team of U.S. Marshals to get her.
“If she doesn’t show ... then I don’t think there would be any basis to avoid a bench warrant at that point,” defense lawyer Anthony Cecutti said, later adding that his client was “struggling to keep her life afloat.”
Swain said if Harris hadn’t turned over outstanding financial documents to the probation department by noon Friday, she’d issue a bench warrant. If she abides by the deadline, the judge said she’d set a new sentencing date in early April.
Prosecutors had argued for an immediate warrant, telling the judge there was no reason to believe Harris would ever appear after skipping her last court date in January.
Harris pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport stolen property in August 2022 along with a co-conspirator, Robert Kurlander. She admitted that in September 2020, she stole Ashley Biden’s handwritten journal, which contained highly personal entries, private family photos, and tax information from a Delray Beach home where the then-presidential candidate’s daughter left luggage behind.
When Harris and Kurlander failed to peddle the goods at a Trump fundraising event, they sold them for $40,000 to Project Veritas, a New York-based group known for ambushing Democratic politicians and journalists at liberal-leaning publications in what critics say are deceptively edited hidden-camera stings.
The group’s founder, James O’Keefe, defended the diary’s purchase and his home was raided by the FBI during the investigation.