What happened with Ashley Biden and her father and her diary?
Executive summary
A personal journal belonging to Ashley Biden was stolen in 2020, sold to Project Veritas and later published by a right‑wing outlet, prompting criminal pleas, a prison sentence for the thief and a public letter from Ashley Biden saying the theft caused lasting harm and confirming the diary has been viewed online [1] [2] [3]. The contents circulated online—including a widely shared, contested line about showering with her father—have been variously reported, partially authenticated by Ashley’s court letter and treated with caution by outlets and fact‑checkers because pages were originally obtained and disseminated through illicit means [4] [5] [6].
1. The theft and sale: how the diary left Ashley Biden’s possession
Prosecutors say Ashley Biden was moving out of a friend’s home in Delray Beach in spring 2020 and stored a diary and other belongings there, and that two Florida residents later conspired to steal those items and sell them, first attempting to offer material to the Trump campaign and then to Project Veritas, which paid for the diary and related items [1] [7]. The sellers met Project Veritas operatives in New York hotels; Project Veritas’ founder has said the group ultimately did not publish what it bought, and prosecutors allege the buyers sought additional items from the home to “authenticate” the diary [1] [7].
2. What appeared online and who published it
A conservative blog called The National File published what it said was a full copy of the diary shortly before the 2020 election, while Project Veritas has acknowledged taking possession at one point but said it could not verify ownership and did not formally publish the diary [5] [1]. Social platforms amplified selected lines from the leaked pages—most notably an unverified excerpt alleging inappropriate showering with her father—fueling viral debate and political attacks even though the provenance and context of specific passages were disputed [4] [7].
3. Criminal cases and sentences arising from the theft
Two people pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiring to steal and traffic the diary and other items to Project Veritas, and one of the thieves, Aimee Harris, was later sentenced in April 2024 to one month in prison, three months of home confinement, forfeiture of money received, and probation after admitting she took and sold Ashley Biden’s personal effects [1] [3] [2]. Prosecutors argued the theft had a political motive—intended to cause harm to Joe Biden’s campaign—and courts treated the trafficking of stolen personal property across state lines as a federal crime [2] [1].
4. Ashley Biden’s public response and authentication issues
Ashley Biden wrote an unsealed letter to a federal judge describing the pain of having her private journal stolen and saying she “will forever have to deal with the fact that my personal journal can be viewed online,” language that led fact‑checkers like Snopes to update prior assessments and accept that the diary in circulation derived from her personal journal [2] [5] [6]. That admission addresses the diary’s origin but does not resolve disputes over the accuracy, context or completeness of individual published passages, nor does it retroactively legalize the way the material was obtained or published [6] [5].
5. Political fallout, contested claims and unresolved threads
The diary saga became fodder for partisan attack lines and conspiracy claims—some commentators asserted cover‑ups or exaggerated implications—while others warned journalists and readers to treat specific sensational passages with skepticism because they emerged from stolen material circulated by partisan actors [7] [4]. The Justice Department later announced it would not charge Project Veritas affiliates in the probe, a decision that some saw as exoneration of the outlet and others viewed as a limited legal outcome that left many public questions about editorial choices, ethics and the propriety of publishing illegally obtained personal records [8].