MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, WikiLeaks said that Winner was arrested after a "suspected Intercept reporter" had provided the US authorities with her "post code, printout and report number."
"WikiLeaks issues a US$10,000 reward for information leading to the public exposure & termination of this 'reporter,'" WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.
WikiLeaks issues a US$10,000 reward for information leading to the public exposure & termination of this 'reporter': https://t.co/W9wijCk5d3
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 6, 2017
Earlier on Tuesday, the US Department of Justice said in a statement that Winner was a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation that held a Top Secret security clearance and was employed at the US government agency facility since February. According to the statement, Winner pilfered the classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency and mailed it to a unnamed media outlet.
According to WikiLeaks, the leaked document was mailed to The Intercept media outlet, which published on Monday the NSA paper detailing "months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the US election and voting infrastructure."
Since the beginning of the United States' most recent presidential race, US media have speculated about then-Republican nominee Donald Trump's campaign team's alleged ties to Russia and claimed that Russia might have influenced the results of the election.
In January, the US intelligence community presented a report on Russian activities, expressing, with a high degree of confidence, that Russia's goal was to influence the election so that Trump would win.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied charges of interfering in the US elections, saying the allegations are absurd and represent an attempt to divert the US public’s attention from revealed instances of corruption as well as other pressing domestic issues.
