Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Ms. Biden, declined to remark.
The episode has its roots within the spring of 2020, as Ms. Biden’s father was closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination. Ms. Biden, who has stored a low profile all through her father’s vice presidency and presidency, had left a job the 12 months earlier than working for a legal justice group in Delaware.
She was dwelling in Delray Seashore, Fla., a small metropolis between Miami and West Palm Seashore, with a buddy who had rented a two-bedroom home lined with palm bushes with a big swimming pool and wraparound driveway, in accordance with folks accustomed to the occasions. Ms. Biden, who had little public position in her father’s marketing campaign, had earlier been in rehab in Florida in 2019, and the buddy’s home supplied a haven the place she may keep away from the media and the glare of the marketing campaign.
However in June, with the marketing campaign ramping up, she headed to the Philadelphia space, planning to return to the Delray dwelling within the fall earlier than the lease expired in November. She determined to go away a few of her belongings behind, together with a duffel bag and one other bag, folks accustomed to the occasions mentioned.
Weeks after Ms. Biden headed to the Northeast, the buddy who had been internet hosting Ms. Biden in the home allowed an ex-girlfriend named Aimee Harris and her two kids to maneuver in. Ms. Harris was in a contentious custody dispute and was struggling financially, in accordance with Palm Seashore County court docket information. At one level in February 2020, she had confronted eviction whereas dwelling at a rental property in close by Jupiter.
Shortly after shifting into the Delray dwelling, Ms. Harris — whose social media postings and conversations with buddies instructed that she was a fan of Mr. Trump — realized that Ms. Biden had stayed there beforehand and that a few of her issues had been nonetheless there, in accordance with two folks accustomed to the matter.
September 2020: Venture Veritas Obtains the Diary
Precisely what occurred subsequent stays the topic of the federal investigation. However by September, the diary had been acquired from Ms. Harris and a buddy by Venture Veritas, whose operations towards liberal teams and conventional information organizations had helped make it a favourite of Mr. Trump.
In a court docket submitting, Venture Veritas informed a federal decide that round Sept. 3, 2020, somebody the group described as “a tipster” referred to as Venture Veritas and left a voice message. The caller mentioned “a brand new occupant moved into a spot the place Ashley Biden had beforehand been staying and located Ms. Biden’s diary and different private gadgets.”
