Appeals court denies NSA leaker Reality Winner’s request to leave prison early

Published December 7, 2020 9:55pm ET



An appeals court denied a request by Reality Winner, who pleaded guilty to leaking classified Russian meddling information to the media, to serve out the remainder of her prison sentence in home confinement because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The National Security Agency contractor, 29, was arrested in June 2017 as the first successful classified leak prosecution by the Trump administration, just after the Intercept published a story stating that “a top-secret National Security Agency report details a months-long Russian hacking effort against the U.S. election infrastructure.” Winner had mailed the NSA document to the outlet in May 2017, and the outlet reached out to the NSA to confirm its authenticity. The FBI and NSA quickly figured out the information had been disclosed by Winner.

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