Reality Winner, the former intelligence contractor imprisoned for leaking a top secret report on Russian hacking, said Friday that she was “blown away” by the level of detail in the unsealed indictment against Donald Trump.
Winner became the first person to be prosecuted and then sentenced under the Trump administration for defying the Espionage Act by leaking classified information. Now Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information — in violation of the Espionage Act — as well as other counts related to making false statements and conspiring to obstruct justice.
“This is probably one of the most egregious and cut-and-dry cases,” Winner, 31, said in a phone interview with NBC News of the allegations that Trump held onto sensitive government documents and attempted to mislead investigators.
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FBI agents in August seized a trove of top secret and classified papers from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. At the time, Trump said he did not oppose the Justice Department’s motion to disclose the documents to the public and argued that everything he had taken from the White House “was all declassified.”
Trump aide Walt Nauta was also indicted on federal criminal charges in connection with the investigation.
The indictment against Trump marks the first time a former president is facing federal charges.
Winner has said that she considers the application of the Espionage Act inconsistent and vague. Civil liberties groups have similarly argued that the law needs to be updated and should be clearer about what is considered prohibited conduct while also maintaining free speech safeguards for whistleblowing activities.
But Winner said the indictment against Trump is remarkable for its specificity on what he allegedly took and that there was no indication he was acting for the greater good of the public.
According to the indictment, the documents “included information regarding defense and weapons…
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