ALICE, TEXAS: Reality Leigh Winner, a former Air Force translator and NSA contractor made headlines in 2017 after being detained on suspicion of disclosing sensitive material to the media. Winner pleaded guilty and was given the longest prison term ever for a civilian for disclosing illegal government documents to the press. She was given a five-year prison term after leaking a confidential report that claimed the Russian military had "executed cyber espionage" on regional US election authorities in 2016.
The FBI is now hunting down Sydney Sweeney in Tina Satter's riveting biopic documentary, 'Reality,' about the American intelligence whistleblower. 'Reality' is based on Satter's play 'Is This a Room,' as well as the FBI's transcript of their 2017 questioning of Winner, which was carried out in her home just days before her arrest. Reality L Winner is portrayed by Emmy-nominated Sweeney in the upcoming HBO movie.
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'I am not a traitor. I am not a spy'
Winner is now released but is on probation till 2024, and now resides in Texas. She spoke with 60 Minutes (CBS News) about her job, her legal situation, her time in prison, and what she considers to have been her patriotic duty to the American people. Aside from being well-known due to her case, Winner speaks with '60 Minutes' correspondent Scott Pelley to "set the record straight" on who she really is. Winner emphasized that she is more than what the prosecution has portrayed her as in court, saying "I am not a traitor. I am not a spy."
Winner described the circumstances that resulted in her decision to leak a secret government record to the media, an action that would ultimately cost her four years in prison. Winner expressed her concern that "the truth wasn't true anymore" along with what she claims was a state of bafflement and suspicion that engulfed America in the early months of 2017.
In a prolonged legal battle that lasted more than a year, Winner was charged with violating the Espionage Act. Winner claimed that while the lawsuit dragged on, her melancholy and suicidal thoughts engulfed her. Alison Grinter Allen, Winner's lawyer, acknowledged that Winner broke the law but feels that her conviction was unjust, political, and punitive.
Why was Reality Winner given the longest prison term?
Winner, who was 25 at the time and had no prior convictions, is said to have been the target of a campaign by the Justice Department under President Trump. She was the very first person the Trump administration has filed an Espionage Act case against for leaking a document. The Justice Department suggested a 63-month sentence rather than going for the maximum punishment, the longest prison term ever for an illegal leaking to the media.
The prosecutors alleged that Winner, a defense contractor for Pluribus International Corporation, printed a classified report in May 2017 that detailed how Russian military intelligence had attempted to hack more than 100 local election systems in the days leading up to the November 2016 election and had at least one voting software supplier's systems compromised.
When was Reality Winner released from prison?
On June 2, 2021, Winner earned an early release from the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. She was released into a residential re-entry program for good behavior, per Winner's attorney, Grinter Allen, who tweeted the news. Reality Winner's "community confinement" will be under the control of the San Antonio Residential Re-entry Management Office, as reported by The New York Times.
Even though her good-behavior parole was not unusual, Winner's lawyer and family expressed concern that the government would find a justification to prolong her incarceration. "When we knew the release was imminent, there were a lot of anxieties that it would be denied to her," Ms Allen said in an interview.
What is Reality Winner doing now?
Reality Winner, now 31, dubs herself as a sister, daughter, yoga and fitness instructor, and pet owner. Winner now lives in her childhood residence on the edge of a cattle ranch less than 100 miles north of the Mexican border, The Record reports. After being released from prison last summer, she moved here and is currently residing with her mother, stepfather, and an array of stray animals.
