Federal contractor arrested for leaking classified intelligence to 'The Intercept'

The Department of Justice on Monday filed a criminal complaint against Reality Leigh Winner, a federal contractor from Georgia, on charges of removing classified information and disseminating it to the Intercept, NBC News reports.

According to the complaint, Winner, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, held Top Secret security clearance at a U.S. government facility. She allegedly printed classified information and sent it to an online news organization. Per the DOJ, she admitted to the offense while the FBI executed a search warrant at her home.

As the Washington Post’s Mark Berman reported, the information aligns with a bombshell report published Monday by the Intercept. According to that article Russia “targeted at least one U.S. voting software supplier” in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. Both the Intercept report and the FBI’s affidavit reference a May 5 report.

In a statement to the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza on Monday, the Intercept insisted they have no knowledge as to the identity of the source.

Read the full FBI affidavit here.