A former security expert and Air Force member, who is in prison for leaking NSA documents , is petitioning President Trump for early release.
The defendant is named Reality Winner. Her lawyer announced at a press conference that she has submitted 4,500 letters of support for her client to President Trump's office.
“Our country has been attacked by a hostile foreign power,” said attorney Alison Grinter. “The national healing process cannot begin until we forgive the people who told us the truth. That must happen first, and then we can begin to build back all that was taken from us: securing elections, punishing those who seek to undermine democracy , and protecting the rights of the people. None of that can begin as long as we continue to punish those who tell us the truth.”
According to the Justice Department, Winner was arrested in 2017 for violating the Espionage Act. According to the Department, the defendant leaked documents belonging to a government agency (NSA) and sent them to the Intercept news agency. The documents were related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The arrest came after an Intercept report, published in June 2017, detailed how Russian hackers attacked voting software and carried out spear-phishing attacks on American officials, interfering in the election 2016.
Winner, an Air Force veteran, had worked with the NSA. According to the documents, she printed out a document with confidential information and sent it to the news agency.
The court sentenced Winner to five years in prisonafter she pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act and leaking NSA documents. She said she was not cooperating with any foreign entity and that she was not conspiring against her country. She had no financial gain. All she wanted was to tell the truth and inform the public about Russian involvement.
After her conviction, Trump tweeted that this was "small potatoes" compared to what Hillary Clinton did.
The defendant's attorney states in the petition for Winner's release that "Winner's continued imprisonment is costly, unnecessary for the protection of the public, burdensome to the defendant's health and well-being, and disproportionate to the seriousness of the offense."
The parole application also discusses Winner's military service and the fact that she has not received adequate medical treatment while in prison for depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. Winner was diagnosed with bulimia during her deployment as a cryptologist in a drone program.
