ATLANTA — A former Georgia government contractor and Air Force veteran has reached a plea deal with the government in the first national security leaker case under the Trump administration.
According to court documents filed this week, Reality Winner agreed to the plea on Wednesday during an 18-minute conference call with a federal judge. The details of that arrangement were not detailed in public filings Thursday.
#Breaking: Ex-Georgia gov’t contractor, USAF vet Reality Winner reaches plea deal with the government in NSA/Russian election hacking leaker case. Court docs filed today don’t detail agreement. Winner was charged with espionage, has been jailed more than a year w/o bond @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/liZkCi9yz5
— Nicole Carr (@NicoleCarrWSB) June 21, 2018
Winner, 26, will stand before Judge Brian Epps in Augusta on Tuesday morning.
“Reality Winner will accept responsibility for any wrongdoing and is ready to accept the consequences,” her mother Billie Winner-Davis tweeted Thursday afternoon. We will continue to support her. She is a true patriot and hero.”
[READ: Alleged NSA leaker's ex-cellmate: 'She feels like she's being directly targeted by Trump']
Channel 2 Action News has covered Winner’s case extensively, beginning with the arrest of the multilingual military veteran in her Augusta home.
Prosecutors introduced transcripts of Winner admitting to sending Russian election interference evidence to an online media outlet from her Fort Gordon government contracting facility in 2017.
[READ: Contractor wanted to 'burn the White House down,' prosecutors say]
Defense attorneys argued against using the confession in trial because Winner was not read Miranda rights during the federal raid. A ruling was not made before the plea deal was reached.
Earlier this month, Winner’s mother spoke with investigative reporter Nicole Carr, marking Winner’s anniversary in the Lincoln County Jail where she’s been detained amid repeated bond denials.
[READ: Parents fear for daughter after allegations she leaked report]
Her former cellmate told Carr that Winner believed she was being targeted by President Trump.
Winner was set to go to trial in October. Stay with Channel 2 for more details on the upcoming plea hearing.
Cox Media Group
