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 felony justice group in Delaware.

She was dwelling in Delray Beach, Fla., a small metropolis between Miami and West Palm Beach, with a good friend who had rented a two-bedroom home lined with palm bushes with a big swimming pool and wraparound driveway, in accordance to folks conversant in 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 good friend’s home offered a haven the place she might keep away from the media and the glare of the marketing campaign.

But in June, with the marketing campaign ramping up, she headed to the Philadelphia space, planning to return to the Delray house 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 conversant in the occasions mentioned.

Weeks after Ms. Biden headed to the Northeast, the good friend who had been internet hosting Ms. Biden in the home allowed an ex-girlfriend named Aimee Harris and her two youngsters to transfer in. Ms. Harris was in a contentious custody dispute and was struggling financially, in accordance to Palm Beach County courtroom information. At one level in February 2020, she had confronted eviction whereas dwelling at a rental property in close by Jupiter.

Shortly after transferring into the Delray house, Ms. Harris — whose social media postings and conversations with pals advised that she was a fan of Mr. Trump — discovered that Ms. Biden had stayed there beforehand and that a few of her issues had been nonetheless there, in accordance to two folks conversant in the matter.

Exactly what occurred subsequent stays the topic of the federal investigation. But by September, the diary had been acquired from Ms. Harris and a good friend by Project Veritas, whose operations in opposition to liberal teams and conventional information organizations had helped make it a favorite of Mr. Trump.

In a courtroom submitting, Project Veritas instructed a federal decide that round Sept. 3, 2020, somebody the group described as “a tipster” known as Project Veritas and left a voice message. The caller mentioned “a new occupant moved into a place where Ashley Biden had previously been staying and found Ms. Biden’s diary and other personal items.”



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