The first case of a government leaker charged for espionage by the Trump administration grew darker on Thursday as a federal prosecutor revealed what he described as “new and downright frightening” acts uncovered in the investigation of 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner, the federal contractor with top-secret clearance who is charged with leaking a classified report about a Russia hacking attempt to The Intercept.
Winner, 25, pleaded not guilty on Thursday, but a magistrate judge denied her bail after authorities deemed her a threat to national security. Investigators found that the Russia report does not appear to be the first time Winner leaked sensitive information, and evidence suggests that Winner sympathized with radical Islamists.
Before becoming a government contractor with top-secret security clearance, Winner was a linguist with the U.S. Air Force. During the hearing on Thursday, the federal prosecutor revealed that while in the Air Force, Winner inserted a thumb drive into a government computer and copied classified information. What Winner did with that information is unknown.
“When you take a thumb drive in a top-secret computer as she did, we don’t know what happened to it,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Epps. “That falls into the landscape of danger to the community but it is also a danger to the nation.”
Investigators also discovered alarming statements made by Winner in her journal that suggest she sympathized with radical Islamists. Bloomberg reports:
In denying Winner’s request to be released while awaiting trial, Epps also cited her journal which federal agents found during a search of her Augusta home. She allegedly expressed support in her writings for Taliban leaders and Osama bin Laden as well as proclaiming she wanted to burn down the White House.
“She seems to have a fascination with the Middle East and Islamic terrorism,” Epps said. He quoted her as having written: “It’s a Christlike vision to have a fundamentalist Islamic state.”
Winner was arrested on Saturday and charged with espionage by the Justice Department, which announced the charges on Monday. Despite having expressed sympathy for the Iranian government (the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism), and repeatedly condemning President Donald Trump online prior to her employment in February with federal contractor Pluribus International Corp, Winner was granted top-secret clearance.
The charges against Winner include leaking a classified NSA report on a Russian military intelligence-initiated cyber-attack on a U.S. voting software supplier, and sending malware emails to over a hundred election officials, which did not result in any actual “hacking of the vote.” The specific intent of these leaks remains unclear. Winner printed the top secret report and gave it to The Intercept, which contacted the agency (believed to be the NSA) for which Winner worked, on May 30 to inform them they had what they believed to be a classified government document. The agency then notified the FBI on June 1. On June 3, the FBI received a warrant to search Winner’s home and car.
According to the prosecutor, Winner has admitted to authorities that she leaked the document and acknowledged that she was aware that the information could “be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation.”
More from the Daily Wire on Winner:
5 Things You Need To Know About Alleged Leaker Reality Winner