Twitter/Getty Robert Kurlander (l) and Ashley Biden (r). Aimee Harris is not pictured.
Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander are Florida residents who are under scrutiny in the federal investigation into Ashley Biden’s diary.
Shortly before the 2020 presidential election, a conservative website published unverified pages from the diary. The media largely ignored the story until federal authorities confirmed they are probing how the diary ended up in the hands of Project Veritas, the conservative sting operation. Competing claims surfaced as to whether the diary was stolen or abandoned.
The names of Harris and Kurlander first came up in a New York Times story that accuses them of playing a role in getting the diary to Project Veritas, which denies wrongdoing and never ended up publishing the diary.
The site that published the diary is called National File.
You can read that original National File report here. The pages can be found in full at that site here.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Ashley Biden Left Her Diary in a Rental Home & Aimee Harris Moved in After She Left, Reports Say
GettyAshley Biden, Joe’s daughter, with her parents.
According to NBC, an FBI spokesperson confirmed that the agency is investigating “the possible theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.”
The New York Times has published a lengthy investigative piece exploring the federal investigation into the diary, including how it “found its way into the hands of supporters of Mr. Trump at the height of the campaign.” The Times is referring to Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander in that report.
Federal authorities are looking into whether there was “a criminal conspiracy among a handful of individuals to steal and publish the diary,” The Times reported.
According to the Times, Ashley Biden was living in Delray Beach, Fla., with a friend in a rented home, after being in rehab.
She moved to Philadelphia, planning to return to the Florida home and leaving her belongings behind as a result, The Times reported. According to The New York Times, Ashley Biden’s friend then allowed his ex-girlfriend Aimee Harris to move into the home. She was going through a divorce and “struggling financially,” the Times reported and was facing eviction.
Court records reviewed by Heavy say that Aimee Harris was sued in Palm Beach County by a landlord who alleged she did not pay $2,100 rent for the month of February. The case was dismissed before it went to a hearing. The address was given as Jupiter, Florida. It’s not clear how Harris and Kurlander know each other.
She is described in court records as a white female who was born in June 1982. The court files show an Aimee Leanne Harris was involved in a paternity case and other family-related issues as well as another eviction and some small claims cases.
2. Harris, a Trump Fan, Didn’t Do Anything Wrong, Her Lawyer Says
GettyConservative undercover journalist James O’Keefe (R) holds a news conference at the National Press Club September 1, 2015 in Washington, D,C.
Harris is “full cooperating with the investigation,” according to what her lawyer, Guy Fronstin, told The Times. She has “no culpability,” her lawyer told the Times. Heavy has written to Fronstin to see if he wanted to comment.
Harris’s social media accounts show she’s a fan of Trump, and she learned Ashley Biden had left some belongings behind, The Times reported, adding that a short time later “the diary had been acquired from Ms. Harris and a friend by Project Veritas.” That’s all under investigation.
The Times reported that Project Veritas bought the diary from people identified as “A.H.” and “R.K.,” and it says that the group thought they had obtained the diary legally. According to the Times, AH is Aimee Harris and RK is Robert Kurlander, a “self-described venture capitalist” and friend of Harris.
3. Kurlander Has a Federal Conviction for Money Laundering & Wrote About Biden’s Children on Twitter
@realDonaldTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr Hundreds of people are lining the overpasses in West Palm Beach for all the cars on route 95 with Trump flags and more.
In October 2020, Kurlander wrote on Twitter, “@realDonaldTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr where are Biden’s two kids? Why aren’t they campaigning like your 4 kids? Your great awesome kids. You can tell a lot about the family by the children!!!!! Ashley and Hunter are disasters. Reflection of the parents. Joe !!!.”
According to the Times, Kurlander previously pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering crime in 1994. That investigated snared David Witter, the grandson of the famed Dean Witter.
“The grandson of investment guru Dean Witter offered to launder $10 million for undercover agents who were posing as drug dealers, a prosecutor said,” according to an Associated Press story from the time. The AP story makes one reference to Kurlander, saying, “The investigation began last April after Robert Kurlander, a broker at Witter’s business, offered to launder money for a sheriff’s informant posing as a drug smuggler, authorities said.”
On his Twitter page, Kurlander expresses conservative views. He recently retweeted this post by Donald Trump Jr. The cache for his Twitter page on Google reads, “Wall And Broad Capital, LLC. Hedge Fund founder. Venture Capitalist. Skiing, Tennis, Golf, Travel, Helping others succeed.”
Kurlander is tied to a variety of LLCs in Florida.
Many of Kurlander’s posts are negative to Joe Biden.
In October 2020, he tweeted, “@realDonaldTrump @DonaldJTrumpJr Hundreds of people are lining the overpasses in West Palm Beach for all the cars on route 95 with Trump flags and more.”
The Times also reported that a Trump donor from Florida who knows Kurlander, Elizabeth Fago, is “being scrutinized in the investigation.” She knows Kurlander, the Times reported.
According to the Times, Project Veritas wrote Biden and asked for an interview, saying if he refused the site would “have no voice but to act unilaterally and serve the right to disclose that you refused our offer to provide answers…”
The Times reported that the website that published the diary pages is owned by Flyover Media, which is registered to an address shared by Branch Six Consulting, which is run by a “former British spy named Richard Sneddon,” who has helped train Project Veritas in “espionage tactics,” according to The Times. O’Keefe also once presided over a company that used that address, The Times reported.
The Times reported that one of the locations searched by authorities was the residence of Spencer Meads, a “longtime Project Veritas operative and confidante of Mr. O’Keefe.”
The article’s byline is Patrick Howley.
According to the Times, he was also the first journalist to publish a yearbook picture showing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and another person (the people in the photo were wearing a KKK outfit and blackface), and also first published text messages revealing an extramarital affair between Democratic Senate candidate in North Carolina, Cal Cunningham, and a woman. Both of those political stories had great political impact and were picked up by major news outlets all over the country, widely being regarded as legitimate stories.
4. Project Veritas Claims the Diary ‘Had Been Abandoned in a Room’
James O’Keefe, who heads Project Veritas, has defined the organization.
In a letter to followers of his website, Project Veritas’s founder James O’Keefe wrote, “I awoke to the news that apartments and homes of Project Veritas journalists, or former journalists, had been raided by FBI agents. It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed ‘crime’ of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly. Or at least, this journalist.”
He added: “I had to think long and hard before making this statement. It’s a decision that only I can make. They don’t want me to defend myself and immediately tried to silence me. That’s why the cover letter for the Grand Jury Subpoena we received contains this language: ‘The Government hereby requests that you voluntarily refrain from disclosing the existence of the subpoena to any third party. While you are under no obligation to comply with our request, we are requesting you not to make any disclosure in order to preserve the confidentiality of the investigation and because disclosure of the existence of this investigation might interfere with and impede the investigation'”
Here is the rest of O’Keefe’s statement:
But while the Department of Justice requested us to not disclose the existence of the subpoena, something very unusual happened. Within an hour of one of our reporters’ homes being secretly raided by the FBI, The New York Times, who we are currently suing for defamation, contacted the Project Veritas reporter for comment. We do not know how The New York Times was aware of the execution of a search warrant at our reporter’s home, or the subject matter of the search warrant, as a Grand Jury investigation is secret.
The FBI took materials of current, and former, Veritas journalists despite the fact that our legal team previously contacted the Department of Justice and voluntarily conveyed unassailable facts that demonstrate Project Veritas’ lack of involvement in criminal activity and/or criminal intent. Like any reporter, we regularly deal with the receipt of source information and take steps to verify its authenticity, legality, and newsworthiness. Our efforts were the stuff of responsible, ethical, journalism and we are in no doubt that Project Veritas acted properly at each and every step.
However, it appears journalism itself may now be on trial.
Late last year, we were approached by tipsters claiming they had a copy of Ashley Biden’s diary. We had never met or heard of the tipsters. The tipsters indicated that the diary had been abandoned in a room in which Ms. Biden stayed at the time, and in which the tipsters stayed in temporarily after Ms. Biden departed the room. The tipsters indicated that the diary included explosive allegations against then-candidate, Joe Biden. The tipsters indicated that they were negotiating with a different media outlet for the payment of monies for the diary. The tipsters were represented by attorneys who handled the negotiations with Project Veritas.
We investigated the claims provided to us, as journalists do. We took steps to corroborate the authenticity of the diary. At the end of the day, we made the ethical decision that because, in part, we could not determine if the diary was real, if the diary in fact belonged to Ashley Biden, or if the contents of the diary occurred, we could not publish the diary and any part thereof. We attempted to return the diary to an attorney representing Ms. Biden, but that attorney refused to authenticate it. Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner. We never published it.
Now, Ms. Biden’s Father’s Department of Justice, specifically the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, appears to be investigating the situation, claiming the diary was stolen. We don’t know if it was, but it begs the question: in what world is the alleged theft of a diary investigated by the President’s FBI and his Department of Justice? A diary! This federal investigation smacks of politics. Project Veritas never threatened or engaged in any illegal conduct.
Should the Southern District of New York try to take away our First Amendment rights to uncover and publish newsworthy stories without government intimidation, be assured, Project Veritas will not back down.
Nothing stops at Project Veritas.
Let me be clear. Our mission is to serve the public’s right to know by illuminating, revealing and exposing information others wish to hide for the wrong reasons. To quote Lord Acton, we believe everything kept secret degenerates. We don’t mislead or conceal. We investigate facts and potential newsworthy information. Sometimes, as was the case here, after we investigate, we decide to not publish a news story. Project Veritas will run from nothing, and we will hide from nothing. We exist for the very purpose of discovering and revealing the truth, in hope to make the world a more transparent place.
Now, this is not the first time we have been attacked and it will not be the last. We know why. We’ve investigated powerful people, and, in many ways, we are the tip of the spear, but we never break the law. Our rule is to act as if there are 12 jurors on our shoulders all the time. The truth will vindicate us.
When the FBI and the Southern District of New York seize reporter’s notebooks, it is not just an attack on Project Veritas. It is an attack on every American and our sacred right to free speech and a free press. The First Amendment is first for a reason: it guarantees all the other rights that follow, because it’s about accountability. Without accountability, freedom itself is an illusion.
So, the great question is: Is this an indicator in the direction that America is going?
We’ve gone far beyond the point of partisan politics in this country. They ask us to focus on our divisions. They don’t ask us to focus on the things which unite us. What unites us is so much more powerful than what divides us.
The First Amendment doesn’t just matter to people on one side. It matters to people on all sides.
That is why I’m calling on all Americans, and especially all journalists, to stand with us for the right to free speech, the free press, and to send a message that the politics of fear will not prevail in the United States of America.
5. The Diary Contains a Line About ‘Showers W/ My Dad’ & Very Personal Musings
GettyAshley Biden
One line in the diary is causing the most controversy. The author wrote that she remembers “showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate),” according to the pages published by National File.
The FBI has not specifically verified that those pages came from the diary it’s investigating; however, major news organizations, including The New York Times, have reported that the handwritten pages published on the conservative website were “from” Ashley Biden’s diary.
The New York Times reported that the FBI investigation is “into how a diary stolen from President Biden’s daughter, Ashley, came to be publicly disclosed a week and a half before the 2020 presidential election.”
The Times further reported, “Project Veritas did not publish Ms. Biden’s diary, but dozens of handwritten pages from it were posted on a right wing website.”
The pages published by the National File contain this line, “Was I molested. I think so – I can’t remember specifics but I do remember trauma.”
“Hyper-sexualized @ a young age,” the page reads. “What is this due to? Was I molested. I think so – I can’t remember specifics but I do remember trauma – I remember not liking the (last name’s) house; I remember somewhat being sexualized with (another female); I remember having sex with friends @ a young age; showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate); being turned on when I wasn’t suppose to be.”
The page also refers to “overhearing parents having sex” and claims, “my mother not emotionally available. My father was – message – I could get love from men.”
It also refers to “being wiped until too late in the game,” and “blanket being taken away,” and “not letting myself go to bathroom.”
The writer discusses family in the diary, writing, “I think what keeps coming up for me is my brothers. How I don’t have them in my life anymore.”
The writer also wrote, “I am grateful for my father” and talks in great detail about her efforts at self betterment and sobriety and moving on from a painful personal relationship.
Another page discusses “Hunter’s birthday” and “Beau’s birthday,” the names of Biden’s two sons; Beau is deceased.
In March 2019, the page says, “So… we are running. Announcement will be in April or early May. It is all super anxiety producing but I just have to take it one day at a time and relax.” Another passage says, “My dad cried on the phone saying he has a debate in a week and ‘now has to worry about you.’ And he cried.”
Under a column titled resentful and why, the writer wrote, “dad, $, control” and under a column titled “hurt,” after dad it says, “hurting self, lying.”
The National File claimed that the diary started “while the author was in a drug rehabilitation facility in Florida.”The National File wrote that it “obtained this document from a whistleblower who was concerned the media organization that employs him would not publish the materials in the final days before the presidential election.”
The National File wrote that it “has a recording of Ashley Biden admitting the diary is hers, and employed a handwriting expert who verified the pages were all written by Ashley.”
The Bidens have not commented on the diary.
READ NEXT: Joe Biden & Jill Biden.