The founder of Project Veritas said last week that the FBI raided the homes of its employees as part of what “appears” to be an investigation into whether the company stole a diary belonging to President Biden’s daughter.
James O’Keefe, CEO and founder of the activist group, said Friday that he “awoke to the news that apartments and homes of Project Veritas journalists, or former journalists, had been raided by FBI agents.”
“The FBI took materials of current, and former, Veritas journalists despite the fact that our legal team previously contacted the Department of Justice and voluntarily conveyed unassailable facts that demonstrate Project Veritas’ lack of involvement in criminal activity and/or criminal intent,” he said.
FBI officials conducted two searches in the New York City area on Thursday, according to The New York Times, which cited two unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The Washington Times has asked the FBI for comment.
According to Mr. O’Keefe, tipsters told Project Veritas last year that they had a copy of Ashley Biden’s diary that had “explosive allegations” against then-candidate Joe Biden.
The tipsters reportedly said they obtained the diary after it was left in a room where first lady Jill Biden was staying. Mr. O’Keefe said Project Veritas bought the diary from the tipsters, who “were represented by attorneys who handled the negotiations.”
“At the end of the day, we made the ethical decision that because, in part, we could not determine if the diary was real, if the diary in fact belonged to Ashley Biden, or if the contents of the diary occurred, we could not publish the diary and any part thereof,” he said.
Mr. O’Keefe said Project Veritas attempted to return the diary to one of Ms. Biden’s attorneys, but the attorney “refused to authenticate it.” So the group handed it over to “law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner,” he said.
“Now, Ms. Biden’s father’s Department of Justice, specifically the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, appears to be investigating the situation, claiming the diary was stolen,” he said.
Mr. O’Keefe said Project Veritas received a grand jury subpoena and that it appears New York prosecutors have “journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly.”
While Project Veritas did not publish any pages from the diary, a right-wing website on Oct. 24, 2020, posted several pages of a diary that it said were handwritten by Ms. Biden.
The Justice Department under the Trump administration launched an investigation in October 2020 after officials were alerted that some of Ashley Biden’s personal belongings had been stolen in a burglary, The Times reported, citing the unnamed sources.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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