Saturday 18 / May / 2024
The U.S. Department of Justice charges a federal contractor with sending classified material to a news organization, just hours after website The Intercept published a top-secret document from the National Security Agency.
One of the first clear efforts by the Trump administration to crack down on leaks to the media.
Twenty-five year old federal contractor Reality Leigh Winner on Monday (June 5) accused of sending top-secret information to a news organization after taking classified documents from a National Security Agency facility in Georgia.
The charge came less than an hour after news website The Intercept published a government document on Russian attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election by hacking a U.S. voting software supplier, and stealing data through malicious emails.
The Justice Department says Winner was arrested over the weekend, suspected of leaking the memo.
The report sheds new light on why U.S. intelligence concluded that Russia planned to meddle in the election in an effort to promote Trump and discredit Hillary Clinton, though it stops short of saying actual votes were manipulated.
Official sources tell Reuters the published memo is authentic and did not dispute that accusations against Winner were directly tied to The Intercept's report.
She's been charged under the Espionage Act and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
