A WORLD OF HURT FOR LITTLE JIMMY O'KEEFE

As someone who has long hoped that The World’s Worst Mick - James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas - would be found face down in a dark alley, bleeding out from a large-caliber exit wound, my hoped-for conclusion to his criminal career has take a few Giant Steps toward achievement.

Some may remember that in the runup to the 2020 election in October 2020, Project Veritas published portions of the diary of Ashley Biden, Joe Biden’s daughter, which had gone missing several weeks earlier.

The group - long known for crimes against journalism involving actually stepping over the line to create false information like their edited videotapes of workers at Project ACORN allegedly agreeing to collaborate with a “pimp” (how anyone thought a pale white Irish dude dressed as the blackest badass was real is something I have never figured out) which led to overreaction by the authorities and the eventual closing of Project ACORN - claimed the diary purportedly belonged to then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s daughter and that it had been provided to them by a “whistleblower.”

While Project Veritas claimed the diary had been legally obtained, the FBI launched an investigation into how the diary ended up in their hands. Agents conducted two searches at the homes of people tied to the activist group in November 2021.

And today...

The Justice Department announced that Aimee Harris, 40, and Robert Kurlander, 58, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property involving the theft of “personal belongings of an immediate family member of a then-former government official who was a candidate for national political office.”

The announcement further detailed that Harris and Kurlander, around September 2020, “conspired to steal,” transport and sell “personal property that belonged to an individual” referred to as a “victim.”

Michael J. Driscoll, an assistant director of the FBI, said in a statement that the two defendants “conspired to steal an individual’s personal property, which they subsequently sold to a third party and delivered across state lines.”

According to the Justice Department’s investigation, the owner of the stolen property — which the department never identifies as Ashley Biden — was staying with a friend at the Florida residence around spring of 2020 and moved out of the property around June 2020, leaving behind the personal items - a diary, tax records, a storage card with private family photographs and a cellphone - with the friend’s permission.

The same friend, days after Biden moved out, invited Harris to temporarily stay in her room, where she found the items. Nearly two months later, Harris asked Kurlander for help selling the property. Kurlander promised Harris he would help her make money selling the items.

By September 2020, the two had contacted a political campaign in the hope of selling the items, but the campaign declined, according to the Justice Department. That campaign instead advised the two to turn in the items to the FBI.

In a text to Harris, Kurlander refused to do so, and said the sale of the items would have “to be done a different way.” That’s when they contacted “an organization based in Mamaroneck, N.Y.” (Project Veritas is headquartered there).

The “organization,” the Justice Department said, paid each thief $20,000 for the stolen property and had them transport the objects to New York (crossing several state lines).

According to the Justice Department, the organization then asked Harris and Kurlander to return to Florida and obtain more items from the property, which Harris still had access to.

Harris and Kurlander pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. They also agreed to forfeit the $20,000 paid.

Kurlander, as part of his plea deal, has agreed to cooperate with the department’s investigation.

Josh Marshall described the story this way:

“Sources are not always good people. And even when they are good people they’ve often done bad things. Often they’ve done illegal things. As a publisher or editor or reporter you want to get the story while being sure you don’t get tangled up in the source’s crimes. Here’s the general principle for how to keep out of trouble.

“Let’s say that you’re minding your own business and some stolen documents just fall out of the sky. Or, more realistically, they just show up in the mail or someone hands them to you. You didn’t know they were coming. You didn’t ask for them. They just appeared. Hopefully you don’t actually know that they’re stolen. But even if you do, if some version of the facts above apply you likely have a pretty good First Amendment claim to reporting on the material. You didn’t do anything. You took no affirmative steps. The source’s crimes aren’t your problem. Or at least you have a pretty good defense if a prosecutor says they are.

“But let’s say someone comes to you and says, hey, I think I can steal these documents for you. Interested? Rookie journalists out there: the answer is no. Absolutely no.

“Or another scenario. Let’s say Mr. Shady Source shows up at the newsroom with his stolen documents. You look them over and you like what you see. Then you say, ‘Great stuff here. As long as you know your way into the house, can you maybe steal these other documents for me too?’

“At this point any First Amendment defense you have has basically gone up in smoke. You are a participant in the crime. If the story is important enough to you and you don’t mind being a thief, you can take your chances. But if you get caught you’re going to do time like any other common criminal. Being a journalist just won’t matter.”

“O’Keefe” is southern Irish ethnically, which means widdle Jimmy probably won’t like wearing Orange for the next 20 years.

Schadenfreude!

Good for you!

Good for me!

Tasty!!

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