Category: Reality Winner

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for NSA whistleblower Reality Winner:

23 August 2018
10:00am ET
Federal Justice Center
United States District Court
600 James Brown Boulevard
Courtroom 2
Augusta, Georgia

Reality plead guilty in June in a deal in which the government agreed to recommend 63 months in prison, but this figure is only tentative. Sentencing is at the judge’s discretion and follows a sentencing investigation. At the hearing, Reality may choose to make a statement and bring forth character witnesses to mitigate her sentence.

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Tentative agreement for 63 months in jail; sentencing hearing to come

Accused NSA whistleblower Reality Winner has changed her plea to guilty today in a hearing in Augusta, Georgia, in a tentative plea agreement carrying a sentence of 63 months, plus three years’ supervised release. Winner, a former Air Force translator, was arrested last year for disclosing a classified NSA report on attempted Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and has been incarcerated in a Georgia county jail ever since.

The plea agreement is still tentative: a sentencing investigation begins now, with a court hearing to come during which Reality may choose to make a statement and bring forth character witnesses to mitigate her sentence.

Reality was initially charged under the Espionage Act, which carries a ten year prison sentence and $250,000 fine. The Espionage Act bars defendants from explaining themselves in court, so had Reality taken her case to trial, she would not have been allowed to argue that she wanted to inform the American people, that she knew the leak wouldn’t cause any harm, and that the government shouldn’t needlessly hide this information from its citizens.

Courage Director Naomi Colvin said:

The Espionage Act is a draconian, World War I-era law that equates whistleblowing with treason, and journalism with spying. It is beyond question that Reality’s disclosure of attacks on the integrity of elections was in the public interest: the US media has discussed little else for the past two years.

That the Espionage Act has forced yet another conscientious public servant into guaranteed prison time should make clear the urgency for reform. Courage extends love and solidarity to Reality and her family, and we will stand by them until she is free.

A plea hearing has been scheduled for accused NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, for Tuesday 26 June 2018 at 10:00AM EST in Augusta, GA.

Accused NSA whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner has signed a plea agreement. A plea hearing has been scheduled for 10.00am EST in Courtroom 2 at the Federal Justice Centre, United States District Court, 600 James Brown Boulevard, Augusta Georgia for Tuesday 26 June 2018.  Further details of the plea agreement will be made available thereafter.

Reality, a six-year Air Force veteran, was arrested in June 2017 for allegedly releasing a classified NSA report on attempted Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Reality, unusually for an Espionage Act case, was denied bail and has spent over a year in a county jail awaiting trial, while her defense has been gagged and hampered by rules governing the use of classified information in court. Had her case gone to trial, Reality faced a maximum ten years in prison under the draconian 1917 Espionage Act.

Reality’s mother, Billie Winner Davis, said:

My daughter Reality has decided to change her plea. I believe that this plea is in Reality’s best interest at this time. Given the time and circumstances and the nature of the Espionage charge I believe that this was the only way that she could receive a fair sentence. I still disagree strongly with the use of the Espionage charge against citizens like reality. The use of the Espionage charge prevents a person from defending themselves or explaining their actions to a jury, thus making it difficult for them to receive a fair trial and treatment in the court system. I do believe that whatever reality did or did not do she acted with good intentions. I know that she will accept full responsibility for any wrongdoing and that she is ready and willing to face the consequences. I ask for continued support for her, She will need your continued support and belief in her as she continues this battle.

The cards were stacked again at her and she couldn’t defend herself against the Espionage charge as that charge doesn’t allow for defendant to show public Interest or best Interest or intent. We need to work toward reforming laws so that the Espionage Act is not leveraged against our citizens.

Disclosure under the Espionage Act is a strict liability offence, with conviction requiring only the potential to cause harm to national security, with no regard to the motive for, or actual impact of, the disclosure at issue. Had Reality’s case gone to trial, she would have been barred from explaining in court that the document in question served to inform the American people about the biggest domestic media story of the past two years. Just yesterday it was revealed that state election officials were unaware of the Russia’s phishing attempt — and therefore would not have been equipped to resist similar attacks – until they read about it in the news, thanks only to Reality Winner.

Reality’s will be the second Espionage Act conviction secured by the Trump administration, after the plea of former FBI agent Terry Albury, who is also alleged to have leaked to The Intercept.

Courage campaigner Nathan Fuller said:

The Trump Administration has signalled its clear intent to continue the Obama-era practice of aggressively punishing low-level leaks that embarrass the government with Espionage Act charges, while allowing top officials to leak with impunity when it serves their interests. Without a plea, Reality could have faced a decade in prison in the prime of her life.  Reality’s case and forced plea highlight the urgent need to overhaul or do away with the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law meant for spies and traitors, not journalists’ sources.

The order for a plea hearing can be found here:

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Though Reality’s attorneys had nothing to do with billboard, judge issues stern warning

Supporters have placed a large billboard supporting imprisoned alleged leaker Reality Winner on Washington Road in Columbia County, GA., highlighting the fact that Winner has spent a year in jail without trial or bail, all for allegedly bringing to light information obviously in the public interest. The add brings attention to a case that has largely been ignored in the US press’s incessant coverage of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

But the judge in Winner’s case, Chief U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall, has issued an order the day after the billboard was put up, demanding attorneys follow court rules barring public statements about the case that they know could “interfere with a fair trial or otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice.” The order threatens the attorneys with being held in contempt of court, which could mean jail or fines, or “other measures.”

The order comes despite the fact that Reality’s attorneys had nothing to do with the billboard and have had no communications with the group that put it up.

Former DOJ whistleblower Jesselyn Radack, who represented Thomas Drake when he faced his own Espionage Act charges, said:

Reality Winner’s supporters have every right to put up a billboard. It is clearly protected by the First Amendment. It is chilling that the judge could possibly see this as an effort by one of her attorneys, and shows again how stacked the deck is against her.

Attorney Tor Ekeland, who has represented several defendants facing CFAA charges, commented:

The judge has no power whatsoever to regulate the speech of nonparties in front of the court. Nor is it proper for the judge to discipline attorneys if they had nothing to do with that speech.

Reality’s mother, Billie Winner Davis, said:

Aren’t judges supposed to be Fair and impartial on cases? The attys knew nothing about this Billboard. #justice4reality Washington Road billboard supports Reality Winner https://t.co/7mreWHSQv5

— Billie J. Winner-Davis (@bjwinnerdavis) June 12, 2018

Drone whistleblower Lisa Ling noted that this order disadvantages the defense, as the prosecution has already had its say in the public sphere with a press release providing the government’s view.

How is it the Prosecution (DOJ) can put out a press release & the defense is completely silenced unable to address what is in the DOJ press release ever? Is that Justice? Is that the scales of justice weighted equally? #Justice4Reality https://t.co/PJBlcMusxh

— Lisa Ling (@ARetVet) June 12, 2018

Judge J. Randall Hall has sided with the government throughout Reality’s pretrial case, repeatedly denying her bail on extremely dubious grounds, claiming Reality “hates the United States and desires to damage national securityty” in a highly politicized ruling that appeal panels have upheld.

At The Intercept, Peter Maas notes the appalling hypocrisy in granting bail to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, suspected of colluding with the Russian government, and not to Reality, calling her prosecution “unfair and unprecedented.”

The government is working to hamper Reality’s defense even further, arguing that her lawyers should not be allowed to cite public news articles about the charged document, because it remains classified despite having been leaked.

Reality’s trial is currently scheduled for October.

Federal judge Brian Epps of Augusta, Georgia has denied bail for alleged whistleblower Reality Winner in an aggressively worded ruling that claims the 25-year-old intelligence contractor “hates the United States and desires to damage national security.” Epps also cited social media comments by Winner that she”admires Edward Snowden and Julian Assange” as evidence against her bond request.

Reality Winner faces an Espionage Act charge for allegedly passing classified material to media outlet The Intercept. The documents in question summarise the NSA’s view at the time of evidence suggesting Russia’s military intelligence attempted to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

In a ruling that reads like a prosecutor’s character assassination, Epps willfully misrepresents Winner’s statements, accepts government talking points as fact, and adds Winner to “the side of Assange and Snowden” to paint her as a duplicitous traitor who was determined to damage national security. Epps ignores Winner’s six years of service with the Air Force as a translator and ignores the substance of the material she allegedly disclosed in his effort to malign her character. A disinterested judge would observe basic facts about Winner’s case, including the nature of the disclosure and her previous service, rather than the prosecution’s deliberate misrepresentation’s of her casual comments in deciding whether she would be a threat if released on bail. Judges in other US whistleblower cases, it’s worth noting, have managed not to appear quite so partisan.

Epps’ ruling continues to allow the prosecution to set the terms of debate throughout Reality’s case. Back in August, the judge sided with prosecutors in ruling the defense would not be  allowed to mention “any information deemed classified by the government, even if it has been widely reported in local, national and international media publications.”

None of this bodes well for Winner’s trial, which is now scheduled for March 2018. Reality will remain in detention until then, with all the hardships that implies.  Neither does Judge Epps’ ruling suggest that Reality will receive a fair hearing when her case does finally come to trial, where she faces a potential sentence of 10 years in prison. If the judge is already this predisposed against Winner’s character, and this willing to accept prosecutorial misrepresentations as established fact, how will he fairly adjudicate whether Winner breached the Espionage Act? Not only does Judge Epps appear unwilling to consider that Winner’s alleged leak might have aided public understanding of a major political issue, he seems already prepared to accept the opposite without much debate, that Winner merely sought to harm the United States.

Epps’ ruling is all the more significant given the heavily politicised atmosphere in the United States, led by the Trump Administration’s virulent rhetoric on journalists and their sources. Reality Winner’s is the first media leak prosecution to be brought under a president who has claimed willingness to extend and expand the war on whistleblowers to include prosecution of publishers. It’s reasonable to assume that whatever happens, Winner’s case will give us an indication of the trials ahead for national security reporting in the United States.

You can donate to Reality Winner’s legal defence fund here, and find the Stand with Reality support network here.