Assange: Reality Winner 'Accused of Courage in Trying to Help US Know'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took to Twitter to express support for Reality Winner accused of transferring US classified data to media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblowing online platform, on Tuesday called for support for US national Reality Winner, who had been charged by authorities for allegedly removing the US classified information from a government facility and transferring it to a news organization.

Alleged NSA whistleblower Reality Leigh Winner must be supported. She is a young women accused of courage in trying to help us know. pic.twitter.com/B4aIdt7qz6

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) 6 июня 2017 г.

Reality Leight Winner is no Clapper or Petraeus with "elite immunity". She's a young woman against the wall for talking to the press.

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) 6 июня 2017 г.

It doesn't matter why she did it or the quality the report. Acts of non-elite sources communicating knowledge should be strongly encouraged.

— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) 6 июня 2017 г.

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. Winner pilfered the classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency and mailed it to a media outlet, the statement added without specifying the media.