The Justice Department has been investigating how James O’Keefe and Project Veritas procured Ashley Biden‘s stolen diary in 2019.
The investigation is adding legal trouble to the right-wing media group.
Project Veritas, a conservative media organization known for sting investigations on liberal organizations, illegally purchased Biden’s diary.
The group didn’t publish the details, but a reporter eventually leaked the document to the National File, a conservative website.
Despite the choice not to publish at Project Veritas, the FBI raided O’Keefe’s Manhattan apartment in November 2021.
Biden’s diary was left behind at a friend’s house during a rehab stint in Delray Beach, Florida. The diary made it into the hands of conservative entrepreneurs Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander. They intended to sell the diary to conservative media outlets before the 2020 presidential election, suspecting it would be a political boon for former President Donald Trump.
Both Harris and Kurlander have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and are said to be working with the FBI. Their convictions cast doubt on the future of Project Veritas, as investigators are attempting to find out if O’Keefe knew the documents were illegally procured.
Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have criticizedof the inquiry, noting that publishing illegal documents is common practice in American journalism.
