Treasury employee charged in leaks to evoke ‘see something, say something’ defense

Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards, a Department of Treasury employee charged with leaking financial documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election, intends to argue that the disclosures were well-intentioned, her attorney revealed Friday.

Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo previewed the legal strategy while addressing reporters following the senior Treasury adviser’s initial appearance Friday in New York City.

“If you see something, say something — that’s her defense,” said Mr. Agnifilo, New York Daily News reported.

“She’s a lifelong public servant, she comes from a family of public servants, and I think the actions in this complaint are along those same lines,” he added, Bloomberg News reported.

Ms. Edwards, 40, was charged last month with two counts related to allegedly leaking Suspicious Activity Reports maintained by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). She was arrested Oct. 16, pleaded not guilty the following day before a judge in Virginia and remains free on a $100,000 bond following Friday’s hearing in Manhattan federal court.

Prosecutors accused Ms. Edwards of being the source of Suspicious Activity Reports leaked to BuzzFeed prior to the website’s publication of a dozen related articles involving several people connected to the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 race, including Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former election campaign chairman, fellow former Trump campaign official Rick Gates and accused Russian spy Maria Butina.

A flash drive used to transport the documents and a cellphone implicating Ms. Edwards in the leaks were discovered during her arrest, the Department of Justice claimed in court filings.

“Was she trying to hurt the government or help the country?” Mr. Agnifilo asked following Friday’s hearing, outlets reported.

“Maybe she made herself a little infamous, but I don’t think that’s what she wanted,” he told reporters. “There’s nothing in this for her except the satisfaction of an American doing the right thing.”

Ms. Edwards “saw things in her official capacity that she felt an obligation to bring forward,” her attorney added, The Associated Press reported.

“She believes that certain pieces of information were not being handled the right way and brought to the attention of the people who should know it.”

Ms. Edwards is on administrative leave, FinCen spokesman Steve Hudak said last month.

She has been charged with one count of unauthorized disclosures of suspicious activity reports and one count of conspiracy to make unauthorized disclosures of the same. Each is punishable upon conviction by a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment.

Mr. Mueller is leading just FBI’s investigation into allegations of Russian election interference during the 2016 race and related matters, and his probe has resulted in convictions for both Manafort and Gates, among others. Ms. Butina, a Russian activist, has been charged in D.C. federal court in connection with her activities during and after the 2016 race.

President Trump has pressured the Department of Justice to prosecute the unauthorized disclosure of government material, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions told The Washington Times last month that the number of active leak investigations grew roughly nine-fold between 2017 and 2018.

Reality Winner, an Air Force veteran and former National Security Agency contractor, was arrested in June 2017 in connection with leaking classified intelligence to The Intercept website exposing Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 race. She subsequently guilty to related counts and is currently serving a 63-month sentence.

Joshua Schulte, a former CIA computer engineer, was charged in June 2018 in connection with allegedly leaking hacking tools later published by the WikiLeaks website. More recently, he was charged earlier this week after investigators said he successfully leaked additional material while in custody awaiting trial for espionage. He pleaded not guilty Friday to a 15-count superseding indictment containing new counts of leaking and contempt of court, and a conference hearing in his case was set for later this month.