- The Washington Times - Friday, June 22, 2018

Reality Winner, a U.S. Air Force veteran accused of leaking classified information about Russian cyberattacks waged during the 2016 White House race, entered a plea agreement Thursday in federal court.

Attorneys for Ms. Winner, 26, submitted a plea agreement on her behalf following an 18-minute telephone conference Thursday morning with U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian K. Epps in Augusta, Georgia, according to court documents.

The filing is not publicly accessible, but Ms. Winner plans to plead guilty at a change of plea hearing set for Tuesday morning, Department of Justice spokesman Ian Prior told The Associated Press.

“In a way, I was relieved to bring some closure to it,” said Billie Winner-Davis, the defendant’s mother. “This last year has been really tough on all of us, not knowing when exactly we’re going to get closure,” she told the Huffington Post.

Ms. Winner was arrested at her Augusta home in June 2017 and subsequently charged with willful retention and transmission of national defense information — a felony violation of federal espionage law that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars upon conviction. She pleaded not guilty shortly after her arrest and has been jailed for the last year while awaiting trial.

Much of the government’s case against Ms. Winner is filed under seal, but prosecutors alleged publicly that she leaked classified material obtained while working at Pluribus International Corp., a government contractor that provides services for the defense and intelligence communities.

Previous reporting suggests Ms. Winner is accused of leaking a top-secret report that was published by The Intercept news site involving Russian attempts to infiltrate elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure running up to the 2016 presidential race.

Ms. Winner allegedly admitted to removing the report from the Pluribus office and mailing it to reporters, FBI agents wrote in court documents.

Attorneys for Ms. Winner did not immediately return emails seeking comment.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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