Reality Winner NSA Leak 2017: Former Government Contractor Charged in First Criminal Leak Case in Trump's Presidency
Reality Leigh Winner makes the first ever criminal leak case in the era of Donald J. Trump's presidency.
Winner, a 25-year-old former Air Force linguist, yoga instructor, and former contractor at one of the National Security Agency's (NSA) eavesdropping center in Georgia, leaked a top-secret intelligence report about the Russians interfering with the American election, The New York Times reports.
Winner printed the report out of the NSA eavesdropping center and submitted it to The Intercept, a national security news outlet. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had already apprehended Winner by the time The Intercept published the report.
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The FBI. claims that Winner confessed when she was confronted with the charges, and the Department of Justice announced that this is the first criminal leak case in President Trump's term.
A search warrant detailed that Winner was able to find the report about the Russians' interference with American elections by launching keywords into the NSA database. But Winner did not extract any other files.
Winner was among four million people who had access to top-secret files from different security agencies among the country. Based on Winner's background, she appeared to be an unlikely suspect.
Although Winner strongly expressed violent reactions against Trump's presidency, she appears to be an enthusiastic, talented, healthy, and animal-loving individual among her peers. There were no records of Winner misbehaving or receiving disciplinary action when she served the military.
The defendant's peers found it difficult to believe that Winner had made the criminal leak case.
Winner's stepfather, Gary Davis, described his stepdaughter as very involved with animal rescue and service groups.
"She's just a good kid. She's got a great big heart," Davis said. The criminal leak case against Winner was a complete surprise to Davis.
Winner was held at the jail in Lincoln County, Georgia, where she had an 11-minute court appearance. She is scheduled for a detention hearing on June 8.
