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Hard reality: Winner pleading out for 63-month sentence
hotair.com ^ | Posted at 2:01 pm on June 26, 2018 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 06/26/2018 12:53:03 PM PDT by Red Badger

She wanted to “burn the White House down” and leaked classified information to an inept reporter by hiding it in her pantyhose in an attempt to punish Donald Trump. Instead, Reality Winner will spend 63 months in the Big House after taking a plea deal in Trump’s efforts to crack down on leakers. This morning, the tawdry story of an NSA employee and her not-so-secret affinity for the Iranian regime came to an end with a whimper instead of a bang:

See Also: Today’s hot topics: Travel ban, NIFLA, immigration, Arlene’s Flowers, and more!

Reality L. Winner, a former Air Force linguist who was the first person prosecuted by the Trump administration on charges of leaking classified information, pleaded guilty on Tuesday as part of an agreement with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of 63 months in prison.

Ms. Winner, who entered her plea in Federal District Court in Augusta, Ga., was arrested last June and accused of sharing a classified report about Russian interference in the 2016 election with the news media.

Ms. Winner, who is now 26, has been jailed since her arrest. Her decision to plead guilty to one felony count allows the government both to avoid a complex trial that had been scheduled for October and to notch a victory in the Trump administration’s aggressive pursuit of leakers.

“All of my actions I did willfully, meaning I did so of my own free will,” Ms. Winner said in court on Tuesday.

Not without some encouragement from — and incompetence by — a reporter at The Intercept. Rather than re-render the documents, the outlet reproduced them instead, making it easy for investigators to conclude that Winner was the leaker. Not that she was exactly a model of subtlety either; while working with a Top Secret clearance, she was cheering on the mullahs of Iran and writing down her plans to burn down the White House and join the Taliban in Afghanistan. Winner then admitted to the crime in recorded jailhouse conversations with her mother while telling her sister that she’d get bail because, er …

Prosecutors said a phone call to her sister expressed Winner’s confidence in how to play the court during her bond hearing.

“I’m pretty, white and cute,” she allegedly told her sister. Prosecutors said Winner told her sister she would braid her hair and cry in court.

Prosecutors said she also instructed family members to transfer $30,000 into her mother’s account so she’d appear poor enough for a court-appointed attorney.

A criminal mastermind she ain’t.

Winner didn’t get a very lenient deal, either. A single count under 18 USC 793 carries a potential ten-year prison sentence. The deal Winner accepted is just over half of that in prison, followed by three years of probation. She might not have gotten much more than that had she fought the charges. The facts of the case, and her behavior before and after the leak, made it beneficial for her to get out from under this as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Her mother worries that her reputation will be ruined:

“She said she wants the world to know that she does love her country, and she is a patriot,” she said. “I don’t want her to go down in history as a traitor to her country.”

Winner must be one of those patriots that support America’s enemies on the battlefield and plan to burn down government buildings out of luuuuuurve. Not even Chelsea Manning went that far, and he went far enough into moral treason territory to qualify. To the extent history remembers Winner at all, the best outcome for which she can hope is that she’ll be considered a narcissistic idiot that lacked the capacity for real treason. Under the circumstances, that seems pretty generous.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 18usc793; iran; nsa; realitywinner; theintercept
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1 posted on 06/26/2018 12:53:03 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

‘Member when she said she was too pretty to be convicted?


2 posted on 06/26/2018 12:55:26 PM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (To the Left, The truth is Right Wing Extremism.)
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To: Red Badger

But what about Hilary?


3 posted on 06/26/2018 12:55:40 PM PDT by RBW in PA
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To: Red Badger

She cheered the mullas. That is proof that she hates this country and was willing to betray it, like bammy. Unlike bammy she’ll go to prison. I think the “pretty, White and cute” thing will not be an advantage in women’s prison! She will soon find out.


4 posted on 06/26/2018 12:59:54 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Liberalism is the denial of human nature.)
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To: Red Badger
"...Her mother worries that her reputation will be ruined: “She said she wants the world to know that she does love her country, and she is a patriot,” she said. “I don’t want her to go down in history as a traitor to her country...”

TOO LATE FOR YOUR SCUMMY POS DAUGHTER.


5 posted on 06/26/2018 1:00:12 PM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: Red Badger

None of these employees gets hired without extensive, extensive cautions and admonitions and training about classified information. It’s not a secret. (the info is, the danger of mishandling it is)


6 posted on 06/26/2018 1:00:34 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them)
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To: Red Badger

“I don’t want her to go down in history as a traitor to her country.”

But....she is a traitor to her country.


7 posted on 06/26/2018 1:01:48 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: rlmorel

[”...Her mother worries that her reputation will be ruined: “She said she wants the world to know that she does love her country, and she is a patriot,” she said. “I don’t want her to go down in history as a traitor to her country...”]

I had no idea her mother does stand-up comedy!


8 posted on 06/26/2018 1:04:14 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Red Badger

Looks like reality didn’t make her a winner...


9 posted on 06/26/2018 1:05:43 PM PDT by Regulator (Pobrecito)
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To: Red Badger

[“I’m pretty, white and cute,” she allegedly told her sister.]

This is what happens when a poll over-samples Democrats....


10 posted on 06/26/2018 1:05:56 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Perhaps an IQ standard should be established for the levels of security clearances, since it’s obvious that a moron can currently hold a top secret clearance.


11 posted on 06/26/2018 1:08:53 PM PDT by damper99
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To: Red Badger

It just shows how BROKEN our system is when we give Top Secret clearances to a person named “Reality Winner”.

Unreal.


12 posted on 06/26/2018 1:09:02 PM PDT by BobL (I drive a pick up truck because it makes me feel like a man)
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To: SaveFerris

She’s also a racist and a liar...............


13 posted on 06/26/2018 1:13:31 PM PDT by Red Badger (When Obama and VJ go to prison for treason, will Roseanne get her show back?...)
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To: rlmorel

Bad Reporter gives a direct quote from Mom;
“I don’t want her to go down.”//


14 posted on 06/26/2018 1:15:29 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Red Badger
“I’m pretty, white and cute,” she allegedly told her sister.

Not only is she a traitor, she's a delusional traitor.

15 posted on 06/26/2018 1:16:00 PM PDT by pgkdan (The Silent Majority STILL Stands With TRUMP!)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...
Her mother worries that her reputation will be ruined: “She said she wants the world to know that she does love her country, and she is a patriot,” she said. “I don’t want her to go down in history as a traitor to her country.” Winner must be one of those patriots that support America’s enemies on the battlefield and plan to burn down government buildings out of luuuuuurve.
It'll be fun for her when she meets her cellmate, Sweaty Betty. Thanks Red Badger.

17 posted on 06/26/2018 1:19:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: SunkenCiv

63 months of THIS!....................

18 posted on 06/26/2018 1:21:39 PM PDT by Red Badger (When Obama and VJ go to prison for treason, will Roseanne get her show back?...)
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To: lee martell

She may, whether she wants to or not...

Couldn’t resist. I don’t normally take a lot of joy in seeing people punished for crimes, even if I do take satisfaction in seeing justice done.

I remember reading an interview from this woman a while back, and I thought “What unmitigated gall. What an anti-American turd.” It made me ashamed to have people like her in our military. I had significant anger, but...what are you going to do? Normal people just find a way to let it go and hope water finds its own level.

When I read this article, I had largely forgotten about her, and am taking some joy in her scummy misery. No sympathy. None.


19 posted on 06/26/2018 1:27:10 PM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: SaveFerris

Pretty, white, and cute will go over really well at night among her beefier fellow inmates, and probably some of the guards. Have a pleasant stay, Honey.


20 posted on 06/26/2018 1:28:41 PM PDT by katana
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