NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, 28, petitions Donald Trump for clemency after serving 30 months of her five-year sentence for leaking classified documents on Russian election interference
- NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, 28, announced Monday she's seeking clemency from President Donald Trump
- She was sentenced to five years, three months in prison in 2018
- She was jailed for leaking classified documents about Russian hacking in the 2016 presidential election to a news outlet, violating the Espionage Act
- On Monday her attorney Alison Grinter held a press conference in Dallas saying she's 'suffered enough' and calling on Trump to 'do the right thing'
- She filed a petition on Monday to the Office of the Pardon Attorney to request her early release, after serving 30 months of her sentence
- Trump tweeted in 2018 that her sentence was 'unfair' and 'small potatoes' compared to 'what Hillary Clinton did'
Lawyers for NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, 28, petitioned for Trump to grant her clemency on Monday
National Security Agency whistleblower Reality Winner is petitioning Trump for clemency.
Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in jail in 2018 for violating the Espionage Act after she leaked classified information on Russian interference in the 2016 election to the press.
The former US Air Force intelligence specialist and her supporters filed a petition on Monday to the Office of the Pardon Attorney, which is under the Justice Department, to request her early release from prison, according to Huffington Post.
Her lawyers said Winner had 'suffered enough' and called on the president to 'do the right thing'.
During a press conference in Dallas on Monday, Winner's lawyer Alison Grinter rallied for her release along with her family members, saying Winner has 'suffered enough' and calling on Trump to 'do the right thing'
'Our country was attacked by a hostile foreign power,' Alison Grinter, Winner’s attorney, said during a Monday press conference in Dallas.
'Our national healing process cannot begin until we forgive our truth tellers and begin the job of rebuilding what was taken from us ― election security, accountability for those who endeavor to undermine our democracy, and safeguarding the American right to government by and for the people.'
'None of this can begin in earnest while we are still punishing those who tell us the truth,' Grinter added.
The attorney said she will submit 4,500 letters of support for Winner as part of the clemency application.
Winner's family hopes Trump will show her mercy and pardon her. He has previously criticized her sentence as 'so unfair'.
'Gee, this is "small potatoes" compared to what Hillary Clinton did,' Trump tweeted in 2018.
Winner's family hopes Trump will show her mercy and pardon her. He has previously criticized her sentence as 'so unfair'
'Gee, this is "small potatoes" compared to what Hillary Clinton did,' Trump tweeted in 2018 on Winner's sentence
'This president has been willing to use his pardon power without regard to many of the conventions that have been put together to guide and advise a president on pardons and commutations,' Grinter said to the New York Times.
'We know the president pays attention to Twitter and media, and we are hoping that the president sees this for what it is and that is an opportunity to put right a great injustice,' she added.
Winner's mother Billie Winner-Davis, said her daughter's health and well-being is at stake in prison and that she is 'losing hope'.
'Reality is not receiving any kind of treatment or care for her anxiety or her bulimia,' Winner-Davis said. 'Every day that passes, I feel like we are losing a little piece of my daughter and who she is.'
She says Reality is 'not a threat to anyone' and 'doesn't deserve this.'
Winner's mother Billie Winner-Davis, said her daughter's health and well-being is at stake in prison and that she is 'losing hope'. Reality pictured with mother in this undated photo
So far the 28-year-old has served out 30 months of her prison sentence. She pleaded guilty to breaching the Espionage Act by smuggling a top-secret report about Russian hacking into her pantyhose and shared it to a news outlet believed to be The Intercept
Winner's stepfather Gary Davis says he feels like she has been 'singled out'.
'She was a nobody and they used her for a patsy and an example,' he said.
So far the 28-year-old has served out 30 months of her prison sentence.
The former military contractor and former American intelligence specialist from Texas was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of leaking a classified intelligence report.
She pleaded guilty to breaching the Espionage Act by smuggling a top-secret report about Russian hacking into her pantyhose and shared it to a news outlet believed to be The Intercept.
That document is believed to have detailed Russian government efforts to penetrate a Florida-based supplier of voting software.
She was handed down the longest sentence ever imposed in federal court on a journalistic source under the Espionage Act.
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