Department Of Justice demands prison time for Ashley Biden diary thief

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a New York district judge to sentence the woman who stole first daughter Ashley Biden’s diary to four to 10 months in prison for the crime.

​​Prosecutors for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had initially sought a sentence of six months of home confinement, followed by three years of supervised release, for Aimee Harris, who pleaded guilty in August of 2022 to conspiring to commit interstate transportation of stolen property in connection with the diary theft.

Harris has requested that her sentencing hearing date be moved 12 times, according to prosecutors, who argue that her excuses are an effort to “improperly delay” her punishment and merit a stiffer sentence.

“The defendant’s sentence must also account for the manner in which she has abused the administration of justice throughout the pendency of this court proceeding,” the filing by US Attorney Damian Williams to District Judge Laura Taylor Swain reads.

“The defendant has repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay this proceeding, including by misleading the Court with false information to justify belated and unmerited requests for adjournments, refusing to appear when directed, and failing to comply with court orders to disclose or produce certain information,” the document states.

“Through this pattern of behavior, the defendant has shown a complete disregard for the Court’s orders and for the orderly administration of this…   judicial proceeding.”

Harris came across the first daughter’s diary, tax records, private family photographs and her cellphone in September 2020, during a stay at a home in Delray Beach, Fla., where President Biden’s daughter had previously been living, according to the DOJ.

The diary contained “highly personal entries,” the DOJ noted.

After stealing Ashley Biden’s property, Harris recruited co-defendant Robert Kurlander to help sell it, the government said, knowing that it belonged to “an immediate family member of a then-former government official who was a candidate for national political office.”

The duo sold the diary to conservative media outlet Project Veritas ahead of the 2020 election for $40,000.

The outlet did not publish the contents of the diary but purported entries later emerged online.

“A sentence involving no period of incarceration would be wholly insufficient to reflect the gravity of the defendant’s conduct, including her apparent belief that she is above the law and that she need not comply with this Court’s orders,” prosecutors argued in their revamped sentencing request.

Harris is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9.

Prosecutors warned that if she fails to appear again they may seek an enhancement for obstruction of justice.

Kurlander, who also pleaded guilty in the case, has a sentencing hearing scheduled for April 12.