The Justice Department is investigating whether a Trump-supporting woman who took over Ashley Biden's room in a Florida rental house tried to sell her diary to Project Veritas during a bitter custody battle.
And whether the right-wing group Project Veritas tried to extort an interview with now President Joe Biden during the final weeks of the 2020 campaign, using the diary as leverage.
The New York Times revealed new details Thursday about the ongoing probe, as DOJ and FBI investigators look into whether there was a criminal conspiracy to steal and publish the diary that involved the woman, who was in a bitter custody battle, her associate, who once pleaded guilty in a money laundering scheme, a Trump donor who the ex-president elevated to a political position in the waning days of his administration and current and ex-operatives of Project Veritas.
The Justice Department is investigating whether a Trump-supporting woman who took over Ashley Biden's (right) room in a Florida rental house tried to sell her diary to Project Veritas during a bitter custody battle. She's photographed with her dad on the Fourth of July 2021
Ashley Biden (right) at age six is seen with her father, now President Joe Biden, when the then-senator was running for president the first time in August 1987
After going to rehab in Florida in 2019, Ashley Biden moved into a two-bedroom house rented by a friend Delray Beach, Florida, staying there while her father competed in the Democratic primaries in the spring of 2020.
But in June, for the final months of the campaign, Ashley Biden relocated back to the Philadelphia area, leaving some of her belongings at the house, with plans to move back in the fall before the lease expired in November.
Her roommate allowed an ex-girlfriend named Aimee Harris and her two children to move in.
Harris was going through a bitter custody battle and struggling financially.
Her 'social media postings and conversations with friends suggested that she was a fan of Mr. Trump,' The Times report said.
Harris soon found out that Ashley Biden had lived at the address previously and left some of her things at the home, according to the Times' sources.
What happened next is the subject of the investigation.
Project Veritas told a federal judge that in September someone described as 'a tipster' called and left a voicemail, telling the conservative group that 'a new occupant moved into a place where Ashley Biden had previously been staying and found Ms. Biden's diary and other personal items.'
Ashley Biden is photographed arriving at a White House state dinner in October 2016
The 'diary is pretty crazy,' the message said. 'I think it's worth taking a look at,' the caller added.
Project Veritas confirmed that the group paid money for the diary.
They did it through an unnamed proxy from two people identified by their initials - A.H. and R.K.
The group said they purchased the diary lawfully.
The Times identified those individuals as Harris and Robert Kurlander.
Kurlander was a longtime friend and former housemate of Harris, who previously pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in a drug-related money laundering scheme and was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
Kurlander tweeted at Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in October 2020, just weeks before election day, asking 'where are Biden's two kids? Why aren't they campaigning like your 4 kids? Your great awesome kids. You can tell a lot about the family by the children !!!!!'
'Ashley and Hunter are disasters,' he continued. 'Reflection of the parents. Joe !!!'
Robert Kurlander tweeted at Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in October 2020, just weeks
