One of the first clear efforts by the Trump administration to crack down on
leaks to the media.
25-year-old federal contractor Reality Leigh Winner on Monday accused of
sending top secret information to a news organization after taking
classified documents from a National Security Agency facility in Georgia.
The charge came less than an hour after news website the Intercept published
a government document on Russian attempts to sway the 2016 presidential election by
hacking a US voting software supplier and stealing data through malicious emails.
The Justice Department says Winner was arrested over the weekend suspected
of leaking the memo.
The report sheds new light on why US intelligence concluded that Russia planned
to meddle in the election in an effort to promote Trump and
discredit Hillary Clinton.
Though it stopped short of saying actual votes were manipulated.
Official sources tell Reuters the published memo is authentic and
did not dispute that accusations against Winner were directly
tied to the Intercept's report.
She's been charged under the Espionage Act and
could face up to ten years in prison if convicted.