Scam artist and convicted criminal James O’Keefe is very upset that federal authorities are investigating the theft of Joe Biden daughter’s diary, which O’Keefe’s Project Veritas purchased, making the conservative propaganda producer a target of the investigation, the AP reports.

O’Keefe is upset that investigators obtained records from Apple and Google to track the communications of people with Project Veritas.  Ashley Biden’s diary was circulated among conservative media outlets prior to the 2020 election after the owner of a residence where she had lived, a one-time friend of Biden’s, claimed she abandoned it; Biden has reportedly said she was storing clothes and other possessions at the friend’s house until she could collect them.

Prior to the 2020 election, the diary ended up in the hands of influential Republicans, including being passed around a Trump fundraiser being held at a major Republican donor’s house.  The person in possession of the diary attempted to sell it to media outlets, but found no takers.  At that event, Donald Trump, Jr. reportedly skimmed the book, but declined to pay for it. 

That’s when Project Veritas stepped in.  Spencer Meads, a senior staffer at Project Veritas, reportedly traveled to Florida to research the provenance of the diary.  Meads claims he was told that Ashley Biden had abandoned the diary and other property at a house where she had lived for a few months during the summer of 2020.  Biden claims the property was not abandoned and the homeowner knew she intended to retrieve her property.  Meads, however, asked the homeowner for Biden’s other property to verify the authenticity of the book.

Journalists enjoy legal protection from possessing stolen property so long as they themselves do not steal it and/or they do not assist or advice others to steal it.  Also, enticing people to steal material–by the use of cash payments or other benefits–is a crime.

Prosecutors in the case, however, not that Project Veritas personnel have been deceptive and untruthful in their accounts of how they obtained the diary, saying that unsworn statements provided to the court are misleading and misrepresent the facts of the case.

Ultimately, Project Veritas obtained the diary and considered publishing it in early October 2020.  O’Keefe, however, decided not to publish the diary–which reportedly had no scandalous or criminal information–because, he told his fellow propagandists, it would be viewed “as a cheap shot.”