The New York Times reported that the FBI searched two locations in New York in search of the "stolen" diary that went missing days before the 2020 presidential election. Project founder James O'Keefe questioned how the Times received the story within an hour of the first raid.
O'Keefe says that the organization actually received a tip that the diary was abandoned in a room, an allegation that harkened back to the abandoned laptop of Hunter Biden. However, Ashley reportedly insisted it was stolen.
The use of the FBI is also reminiscent of the still unexplained use of the FBI when Joe Biden was Vice President to search for a gun owned by Hunter Biden that was discarded behind a restaurant.
Project Veritas decided not to run the story because it could not verify that the diary belonged to Biden. (The FBI may have just offered that confirmation). Instead, it alerted the police, according to O'Keefe: "Project Veritas gave the diary to law enforcement to ensure it could be returned to its rightful owner. We never published it."
So why the raids? Since when does the FBI conducted raids over missing diaries?
The FBI can cite the interstate elements of the alleged theft as raising a federal crime. However, what is the crime? It is not clear if they are suggesting that the responsible parties were seeking to sell the diary or that there was some national security element (which would be bizarre since Biden's daughter was writing before her father ever became president).
Journalist organizations are routinely given material removed from businesses, agencies, or private owners without permission by confidential sources. If this is a federal crime subject to FBI raids, what happened to the new media policies of the Biden Administration after the Tucker Carlson controversy?
There are a host of unanswered questions. Here are five to start with:
- What was the context for the diary's loss? (Did Ashley Biden leave the diary in a room or was it stolen?)
- What is the alleged federal crime (and what is the precedent for a major federal investigation over such an alleged theft)?
- What precautions were taken by the Biden Administration in light of the claimed media status of the targeted individuals?
- Why was there a delay in this action being taken if the alleged theft occurred a year ago?
- Has this matter been under investigation for a year and did the White House request the intervention of the FBI?
It's also being suggested at this point that either the laptop and diary are fake honeypots (which presents a problem because the FBI would have to lie to get a warrant to search Veritas, and previously, the computer shop) or they are real, proven by the granting of the warrants, and Veritas should just go ahead and drop the contents and call the FBI's bluff. And if real, the implication is that both Hunter and Ashley are trying to expose their criminal father the only way they can without going directly to the press or authorities.
Anyway you look at it, stolen property, even the diary of the president's daughter, is not an FBI matter and the FBI has some difficult questions they need to answer. And love him or hate him, O'Keefe is a journalist and following the rules more than any MSM outlet has in the last couple decades. I personally take issue with O'Keefe just based on his personality in interviews, and I don't like what he's exposed, but I can't help but believe what he's exposed. There's no counter-narrative other than "conservative journalist bad!!!" even though his exposition shouldn't be considered partisan.