Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Which Biden family members have publicly addressed the diary allegations and what did they say?
Executive summary
Multiple Biden family members have been tied to public statements or filings about the stolen Ashley Biden diary; most directly, Ashley Biden herself acknowledged the notebook was hers in a court letter and asked for accountability, while other family members’ public responses are reported mainly through court filings and prosecutor statements in related cases (Ashley’s letter is cited as the basis for Snopes changing a rating) [1] [2].
1. Ashley Biden — the most direct public response: “My private journal was stolen”
Ashley Biden explicitly acknowledged the journal in a court filing and described the impact of its theft, writing she was “deeply saddened” that her private journal had been stolen and sold for profit; fact-checkers say that testimony prompted Snopes to change its fact-check from “Unproven” to “True” regarding the diary’s provenance [1] [2]. News coverage and reporting on the prosection’s sentencing state prosecutors and court documents describe the journal as belonging to Ashley and containing “highly personal entries,” and her April 8 letter to a judge asking for jail time for one defendant is cited by Snopes as a key piece of evidence [2] [1].
2. Joe Biden — official reactions appear through prosecutors’ framing and reporting, not a direct presidential airing of details
Available sources do not quote a public statement from President Joe Biden about the diary contents. Instead, reporting centers on criminal prosecutions and prosecutors’ comments that stealing and selling the diary was “wrong and illegal no matter the political agenda,” language that frames the theft as a crime against a family member of a candidate and conveys institutional response rather than a personal statement from the president [3] [4].
3. Other family members — no direct public comment found in the reporting set
Search results and the cited reporting focus on Ashley Biden’s letter and the criminal case surrounding the theft and sale of her diary; they do not provide direct public statements from other Biden family members such as Jill Biden or other children. Therefore, available sources do not mention public comments from other named family members beyond Ashley [4] [1].
4. Prosecutors, DOJ and court filings — the institutional voice responding for the family’s privacy and legal remedy
Prosecutors in sentencing memoranda and the Department of Justice framed the theft as a prosecutable wrong: the DOJ sought prison time for Aimee Harris and described the stolen materials as “highly personal,” and a sentencing memo emphasized that selling a candidate-family member’s belongings to exploit them for political gain was “wrong and illegal no matter the political agenda” [5] [3]. Those institutional statements serve as a principal public response in the record, even where family members themselves did not speak publicly in the cited pieces [3] [5].
5. Project Veritas and related actors — a competing narrative about provenance and conduct
Project Veritas and its founder disputed wrongdoing in broader coverage: James O’Keefe has said Project Veritas “never engaged in any illegal conduct” and claimed the organization tried to return the diary to Ashley Biden’s lawyer and cooperated with law enforcement, presenting an alternative account to prosecutors’ criminal allegations [6]. That defense contrasts with DOJ and prosecutor characterizations and is central to competing interpretations of how the diary changed hands [6].
6. Fact-checkers and media outlets — how reporting influenced who “spoke” publicly
Fact-checking outlets (Snopes, PolitiFact) and news outlets (AP coverage cited by Snopes, Newsweek, BBC, The Guardian, Axios) are prominent sources of public record about ownership and the family’s responses; Snopes’ April/May updates hinge on Ashley Biden’s court letter and court documents, which changed the public assessment of the diary’s provenance and are the clearest primary family-sourced statement in the record [2] [1] [7].
7. What is—and isn’t—confirmed in current reporting
Current reporting confirms: (a) a written letter by Ashley Biden to a judge stating her private journal was stolen and sold and expressing harm, which fact-checkers cite [1] [2]; (b) criminal pleas and sentencing for people who stole and sold items including the diary [4] [5]. Current reporting does not provide verbatim public statements from other Biden family members about the diary’s content; therefore any claim that other family members publicly addressed the specific diary allegations is not found in the cited sources [4] [1].
Bottom line: The clearest, documented public response from the Biden family in the provided reporting is Ashley Biden’s court letter acknowledging the journal and asking for accountability; other responses in the public record are institutional (prosecutors, DOJ) or come from actors involved in obtaining or publishing the material (Project Veritas), presenting competing narratives about how the diary was handled [1] [3] [6].