WikiLeaks Editor Julian Assange is calling for the woman who allegedly leaked top secret NSA documents to The Intercept to be “supported” and the reporter who gave her information to US officials to be “named and shamed.”
The FBI arrested Reality Leigh Winner, 25, at her home in Georgia on Saturday, and charged her with “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet,” according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.
Assange took to Twitter Tuesday to encourage public support for Winner who, he says, is a “young woman accused of courage in trying to help us know.”
In a separate tweet Assange supposedly responded to critics of Winner, saying “it doesn’t matter why she did it or the quality [of] the report. Acts of non-elite sources communicating knowledge should be strongly encouraged.”
Assange went on to denounce the suspected Intercept reporter who allegedly shared the documents, and Winner’s postcode, with US officials.
READ MORE: DOJ charges govt contractor with leaking top secret material to The Intercept
WikiLeaks went one step further, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the “public exposure and termination,” of the reporter.
The secret report, published by The Intercept Monday, alleges that Russian Military Intelligence launched a cyber attack on a voting machine software company, and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials, just days before the 2016 US presidential election.
The leak “threatens national security” and “undermines public faith in government,” according to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein.
If convicted, Winner faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.