Investigators poised to get Project Veritas documents after judge strikes down 1st Amendment claim
NEW YORK — Criminal prosecutors may soon see more than 900 documents related to the alleged theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Biden's daughter, after a judge dismissed a First Amendment claim by conservative group Project Veritas to prevent investigators from would see the data.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said Monday on behalf of the nonprofit that lawyers are considering appealing last Thursday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan. In the written decision, the judge said the documents could be given to investigators by Jan. 5.
The documents come from raids approved in November 2021. Electronic devices were also seized from the homes of three members of Project Veritas, including two mobile phones from the home of James O'Keefe, the group's since-fired founder.
Founded in 2010, Project Veritas identifies itself as a news organization. It is best known for carrying out hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news media, labor unions and Democratic politicians.
In written pleadings, attorneys for Project Veritas and O'Keefe said the government's investigation “does not appear to have been undertaken to advance any genuine interests of justice, but rather to deter the press from investigating the family of the president.”
“It is impossible to imagine the government investigating an abandoned diary (or perhaps the other belongings left with it) if the diary was not written by someone with the last name 'Biden,'” she added.
The judge rejected the First Amendment arguments, saying in the ruling that they were “contrary to Supreme Court precedent.” She also noted that Project Veritas could not claim it was protecting the identity of a confidential source from disclosure after two individuals publicly pleaded guilty in the case.
She was referring to the guilty pleas of Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander in August 2022 to conspiracy to transport stolen property between states. Both are awaiting sentencing.
The pleas came two years after Harris and Kurlander — two Florida residents not employed by Project Veritas — discovered that Ashley Biden, the president's daughter, had stored items, including a diary, at a friend's home in Delray Beach, FL.
They said they initially hoped to sell some of the stolen property to then-President Donald Trump's campaign, but a representative turned them away and told them to take the material to the FBI, prosecutors say.
Ultimately, Project Veritas paid the pair $20,000 each to deliver the diary containing “highly personal information,” a digital memory card containing private family photos, tax documents, clothing and luggage, to New York, prosecutors said.
Project Veritas was not accused of any crime. The group has said its activities were newsgathering and were ethical and legal.
Two weeks ago, Project Veritas chief executive Hannah Giles resigned, saying in a social media post that she had “stepped into an irreparable mess – a mess created by strong evidence of past illegality and post-financial irregularities .” She said she reported what she found to “the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”
Lichtman said in an email on behalf of Project Veritas and the people whose homes were raided: “As for the ongoing investigation, the government is not seeking any jail time for either defendant who claims to have stolen the Ashley Biden diary, which speaks volumes. in our minds.”