Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty in June to leaking classified information about Russian interference in the 2016 election, has been sentenced to 63 months in prison.
The former National Security Agency contractor was the first person prosecuted by the Trump administration for leaking classified information.
“The sentence rendered today is the longest received by a defendant for an unauthorized disclosure of national defense information to the media. It appropriately satisfies the need for both punishment and deterrence in light of the nature and seriousness of the offense,” U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine said in a statement.
Winner was arrested in June 2017, around the same time online news outlet The Intercept published a copy of a report that described Russia’s attempts to gain access to local election offices. The Intercept has said it does not know where the document came from.
Winner, 26, had faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. As part of her guilty plea, prosecutors recommended she be sentenced for 5 years and 3 months behind bars.
The Intercept, whose parent company helped fund Winner’s legal fees, praised Winner’s “courage and sacrifice.”
She “should be honored, not punished,” a statement from the news outlet said.
[Opinion: The monumental idiocy of leaker Reality Leigh Winner]
