NSA leaker Reality Winner: Trump classified documents case ‘egregious and cut-and-dry’

Reality Winner, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who pleaded guilty to leaking classified information, said the case against former President Trump over the documents he kept at Mar-a-Lago after his presidency is “egregious and cut-and-dry.” 

Winner said in an interview with NBC News on Friday that she was “blown away” by the level of detail included in the indictment against Trump, which was unsealed earlier that day. Trump has been charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act over his handling of the documents in addition to other charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice and scheme to conceal. 

“This is probably one of the most egregious and cut-and-dry cases,” Winner said. 

Winner pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act during the Trump administration by leaking classified information from the NSA about Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to media. She was sentenced to more than five years in prison. 

Winner said the Espionage Act, which prohibits sharing or willfully retaining information related to the national defense that could be used to harm the country or help a foreign nation without authorization, is applied inconsistently, but the indictment is specific in what documents Trump took and makes clear that he was not acting in the country’s interest. 

Some of the documents in Trump’s possession included information on U.S. nuclear programs, U.S. and foreign defense capabilities, potential vulnerabilities that the country has to attacks and plans for retaliatory attacks if they are deemed necessary. 

The indictment also alleges Trump undertook significant efforts to cover up the documents and try to keep them from being discovered by federal investigators. Trump also allegedly showed sensitive documents to others who were not authorized to view them on at least two occasions. 

Winner said the indictment might set a new legal standard for how cases will be brought under the Espionage Act in the future. 

“This is probably one of the most transparent and straightforward indictments that defines national defense information and gives the public a sense of the itemized description of every document, which is not how this particular law has been used against ordinary citizens,” she said. 

Winner said the case could possibly provide more leverage to those who were acting “out of moral conscience” as she was to defend themselves. 

She has said she leaked the information in “service to the American people.”