FBI raided the apartment of James O’ Keefe, founder of the activist organization Project Veritas, in New York on Saturday morning. The search was conducted in connection to the investigation of the stolen diary that belonged to President Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
As per reports, the FBI had also earlier searched the homes of two other O Keefe’s associates on Thursday. The raid occurred at around 6 am in O’Keefe’s Mamaroneck apartment complex and lasted for several hours. Neighbours of Keefe confirmed that an FBI team had arrived at around 6 AM and they heard them talking about an FBI warrant. They also said that the FBI agents were at the apartment for several hours.
An F.B.I. spokesman on Saturday said that agents had “performed law enforcement activity” at the building, but said they would not reveal anything about the case. On the other hand, James O’ Keefe said that his group had recently received a grand jury subpoena, and acknowledged that Project Veritas had been involved in discussions with sources last year about the diary.
In a video statement released on Friday, O’Keefe had said that Project Veritas regularly verified the “authenticity,” “legality,” and “newsworthiness” of any source material it receives. Talking about the diary, he said that they had handed over the diary to the law enforcement authorities last year, and had tried to return it to a lawyer of Ashley Biden.
O’Keefe said, “It appears the Southern District of New York now has journalists in their sights for the supposed crime of doing their jobs lawfully and honestly,” adding, “Our efforts were the stuff of responsible, ethical journalism and we are in no doubt that Project Veritas acted properly at each and every step.”
O’ Keefe also revealed that “tipsters” had contacted journalists of his organization late last year who claimed to have Ashley Biden’s diary. He said that Project Veritas refused to publish it saying, “because, in part, we could not determine if the diary was real.” He also then claimed that Project Veritas then “attempted to return the diary to an attorney representing Ms. Biden, but that attorney refused to authenticate it” and the organization then handed over the diary to law enforcement so that it could be returned to its rightful owner. According to the “tipsters”, the diary was left “abandoned in a room”.
On October 24, 2020, dozens of handwritten pages from Ashley Biden’s journal were published by a right-wing website under the byline of a reporter Patrick Howley. The posting said the diary was acquired from a whistleblower at a media organization.