A Democrat with a high-level security clearance is going to prison for leaking classified information to the press.
Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner on Thursday was sentenced to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking a classified report with information on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.
An observation and then a question.
First,
At the time of her arrest in 2017, Winner’s social media pages indicate she was a passionate environmentalist who shared Bernie Sanders material online and held some anti-Trump views.
Reality Winner. Sanders supporter, tree-hugger, criminal.
Here’s my question. The ‘Russain Attacks’ on voting software have, to the best of my knowledge, been debunked as having had any impact at all, meaning they had none. That does not mean they didn’t happen. But did DoJ in its long-game hunt for leaks push that story as part of an internal investigation to plug holes in National Security?
Winner pleads guilty. She admits to the leak. She got 63 months in prison (plus three years supervised release after). Her lawyers think that’s a fair sentence for her even though it’s the longest such sentence handed out for a media leak.
Has she leaked more? Does she know someone else who leaked classified information?
I think we can expect more of this and I wouldn’t be surprised if the clinking of handcuffs pervades the air in upcoming months and no, not on anyone in the Trump Administration. The one that preceded his.
