A New York judge has rejected a bid to make public records the government says show the importance of obtaining materials from Project Veritas in its hunt for the origin of Ashley Biden’s diary.
FBI agents last month raided the homes of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe and residences linked to people who formerly worked for the journalism nonprofit for evidence relating to property agents allege was stolen from Ashley Biden, the only daughter of President Joe Biden, according to a redacted search warrant obtained by Pezou.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the court to unseal all records related to the application for and execution of the search warrant for O’Keefe’s home, arguing that both the press and the public have a right to inspect the materials under the First Amendment and common law.
“A court’s decision to issue a search warrant is based on the application and supporting materials submitted by the government. Such materials are thus central to the exercise of Article III judicial power, and the value of public access to such materials cannot be understated,” Katie Townsend, an attorney for the reporters group, said in a court filing.
She argued that factors that would lead to the court continuing to seal the materials appeared to be lacking, and even if there were some in play, the materials should be released with appropriate redactions, not entirely hidden from the public.
government, though, urged the court not to unseal the records, claiming that if disclosed, they “would reveal a substantial amount of non-public, sensitive information that would jeopardize an ongoing grand jury investigation in which no public charges have been filed.”
Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave, who originally approved the search warrants, ruled Tuesday in favor of the government.
Even though the public should have access to most court proceedings and documents, the public interest in this case is outweighed by the government’s ongoing investigation, the ruling said. Unsealing the records creates a risk that people named in them would move to conceal or destroy evidence, the judge added, as well as the possibility of tampering with witnesses who have testified in the probe.
Cave also ruled that unsealing the records would harm the privacy interests of Ashley Biden.
records are expected to be released if charges are brought.
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press declined to comment.
“Everyone who believes in the First Amendment and a free press should be dismayed that the federal prosecutors continue to conceal facts about their investigation into a free press over the President Biden’s 40 year-old daughter’s diary. A separate news outlet published the diary a year ago, and it remains on the internet today. That’s why it’s troubling that the government persuaded the magistrate that there were ‘privacy interests’ at issue —anyone with an internet connection can go and read the journal and what it says about Joseph Biden,” Paul Calli, a lawyer representing Project Veritas, told Pezou in an email.
O’Keefe and the group have said they were passed “abandoned” documents they were told made up Ashley Biden’s diary but they ultimately did not publish the papers because they could not verify them.
y also said they turned over the materials to local law enforcement in Florida in late 2020.
National File, an online news outlet, has published documents it says come from the female Biden’s diary. government has not taken any action thus far against National File.
Federal law protects journalists who receive stolen materials from prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres referred the motion to unseal the records to Cave.
Torres, an Obama nominee, last month rejected a similar bid from Project Veritas to unseal the records. She said Project Veritas cited no precedent for the idea that the U.S. Constitution gives a person who has not been charged the right to review a search warrant affidavit during an investigation.
Torres has not yet decided on whether to appoint a special master, or a retired lawyer that sifts through materials and separates out privileged documents before passing on the rest to law enforcement. She ordered the government to stop reviewing the seized devices until she decides.
Pezou : Judge Rejects Bid to Make Public Records Supporting Raid of Project Veritas Founder