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NSA Leaker Is A Bernie Supporter Who ‘Resists’ Trump

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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The 25-year-old woman who stole “Top Secret” documents from the National Security Agency and leaked them to The Intercept appears to be a supporter of Bernie Sanders and other progressive icons, such as Bill Maher and Michael Moore.

Reality Leigh Winner’s apparent social media footprint also shows that she is a supporter of other liberal causes, including the Women’s March and the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim civil rights group.

She also recently referred to President Trump as a “piece of shit” because of his position on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests.

Winner was indicted in federal court on Monday after she allegedly stole classified documents from her employer, Pluribus International, a defense contractor that does work for the NSA from its offices in Augusta, Ga.

Winner admitted to FBI agents that she stole the documents and provided them to The Intercept. The news site published an article on Monday that appears to be based on the stolen materials. The Top Secret records show that Russian agents attempted to hack into U.S. voting systems prior to the November election.

The federal complaint filed against Winner reveals that she stole the classified documents on May 9, four days after they were published by the NSA. She printed the report and sent it through ground mail to The Intercept. On May 30, a reporter with the outlet contacted the NSA inquiring about the documents. The agency then contacted the FBI, which dispatched agents to interview and apprehend Winner at her home in Augusta.

Other than her left-leaning Facebook page, Winner has a limited online footprint. One news article from the Kingsville (Tex.) Record shows that she graduated from Air Force basic training in March 2011.

A photo of Winner has not been publicly released, but her Facebook page includes information that matches details contained in a federal indictment filed against her in New York on Monday.

The indictment states that Winner has blonde hair and is five-feet-five. The document also mentions that Winner was planning a vacation to Belize last month and that she drives a light-colored Nissan Cube. Winner’s social media accounts show that she visited Belize and drives a car matching that description.

Jon Swaine, a reporter with The Guardian, also identified Winner.

Winner’s posts on Facebook suggest that she is politically active.

On Feb. 14, a day after Winner took her Top Secret job at Pluribus, Winner posted a photo outside of the Atlanta offices of Georgia Sen. David Perdue.

Winner wrote that she had a 30-minute private meeting with the Republican lawmaker’s state policy director.

She said they discussed “my concerns regarding climate change and what the state of Georgia is doing to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.”

“Meanwhile, my plea that our senators not be afraid to directly state when our president or his cabinet tell outright lies was well heard. I was able to draw the parallel between the 2011 interview of President Bashar al Assad claiming utter ignorance of the human rights violations his citizens were protesting to Trump’s statement last week that the White House hadn’t received any calls about the DAPL, nor were there any protests before last week. They got the message,” she wrote.

A spokeswoman for Perdue released a statement on Tuesday calling the allegations against Winner “very serious.”

“The allegations against Ms. Winner are very serious, and if true, directly threaten our national security. We trust our Justice Department will get to the bottom of this and handle it appropriately,” the spokeswoman said.

Winner was heavily critical of Trump just after he took office. She used the hashtag “NeverMyPresident” and “Resist” in a Facebook post about his position on DAPL.

Winner posted on Facebook most recently on Friday, the day before she was interviewed by the FBI.

“You are what you love, not who loves you,” she wrote.

This article has been updated with additional information, including about Winner’s meeting in February at the offices of Georgia Sen. David Perdue. 

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