A Florida woman who stole the diary of President Biden‘s daughter and then sold it to a conservative group was sentenced Tuesday to one month in prison.
Aimee Harris appeared in a Manhattan federal courtroom where she was also ordered to three months of home confinement.
“I do not believe I am above the law,” Harris told a judge after a prosecutor requested a prison sentence following her failure to appear at numerous sentencing dates on the grounds that she was consumed with caring for her two children, ages 8 and 6. “I’m a survivor of long term domestic abuse and sexual trauma.”
Harris pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in August 2022, admitting that she received $20,000 of the $40,000 that was paid by Project Veritas for personal items belonging to the president’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
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Project Veritas is known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.
In court, a tearful Harris apologized for enabling Ashley Biden’s personal writings to be made public. Harris took the journal from a Delray Beach, Florida, home where Biden believed her items were being stored after she briefly lived there in 2020.
Along with the diary, Harris stole a digital storage card, books, clothing, luggage and “everything she could get her hands on” in the hopes she “could make as much money as she could,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said.
“She wanted to damage Ms. Biden’s father,” he said.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain called Harris’ actions “despicable and serious,” saying she exploited the president’s daughter for profit and to impact the presidential election.
She further said Harris has abused and strained the court system, and “made promises to the court with no intention of keeping them.”
The judge noted that Harris and a co-defendant, Robert Kurlander, had tried unsuccessfully to sell Ashley Biden’s belongings to then-President Donald Trump‘s 2020 presidential campaign.
Defense attorney Anthony Cecutti requested that Harris not receive prison time. He cited her traumatic life and her efforts to care for her children while recovering from abuse and violence. He said the trial had been punishment enough for Harris and that she hasn’t been able to secure full-time employment.
“She carries the shame and stigma of her actions,” he said.
Harris is expected to report to a Florida federal prison in July.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
