Billie Winner-Davis, Reality Winner's mother, told Business Insider on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is attempting legal representation to aid the former Air Force language analyst contractor and Kingsville native Reality Winner with her case.
Winner pleaded guilty in 2018 to leaking classified National Security Agency information on Russia's alleged efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. She was found guilty of violating the U.S. Espionage Act and sentenced to five years in prison at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 2016 following her separation from six years of active duty, Winner was hired by Pluribus International Corporation under an NSA contract to work out of Fort Gordon, Georgia.
According to ABC News, Winner printed a classified report detailing how Russian hackers allegedly “executed cyber espionage operations” on local election systems and mailed the documents to The Intercept.
She was arrested on June 3, 2017.
Amazing! Thank you. My daughter Reality Leigh Winner is yet another victim of this admin. Doing hard time for bringing the truth to light. #FreeRealityWinnerhttps://t.co/wU0sg3LeRs
Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign violations and tax fraud in 2018, began serving his sentence in May 2019 at the federal penitentiary in Otisville, New York.
He has been under house arrest since July over coronavirus concerns.
Military.com stated that Reality’s mother sent a Twitter message that said “Cohen has asked another attorney to look at the case and for opportunities to help.”
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"Super Hacker" coming to the U.S. ? (Video)
July 30, 2008
Gary McKinnon has lost his appeal to avoid being extradited to the US for tapping in to 97 American military and Nasa computers from his London home.
Gary would be the first British hacker extradited to the U.S. He could face up to 60 years in prison.
Gary McKinnon told the highest court in the land that he was the victim of an oppressive prosecution by US authorities who had abused British law by trying to force him into a plea bargain.
Mr McKinnon, 44, a systems analyst, is accused of causing $475,000 worth of damage by gaining access to 97 computer systems belonging to the Pentagon, Nasa and the US military.
He claims he was only looking for evidence that America had concealed the existence of UFOs.
One of his attacks happened immediately after Sept 11 and targeted the Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey, shutting down its computer system for a week.
Mr McKinnon was caught after some of the software used in the attacks was traced back to his girlfriend's e-mail account.
His lawyer David Pannick QC told five Law Lords that it would be an abuse of extradition proceedings to send Mr McKinnon to the US because of the way US authorities had behaved.
Mr McKinnon had been warned by the US that, unless he agreed to plead guilty, he faced a life sentence rather than a couple of years in jail, Mr Pannick said.
The threats from US authorities also included one from New Jersey prosecutors that Mr McKinnon "would fry", said Mr Pannick.
If Mr McKinnon refused a plea bargain then the matter could be treated as a terrorism case which could result in a 60-year sentence in a US maximum security prison if he was found guilty, the Law Lords were told.
Mr McKinnon, also known as "Solo", is alleged to have carried out the hacking from his home in north London. He was arrested in 2002 but never charged in the UK.
Later that year the US government indicted him and began extradition proceedings in 2005.
Former Home Secretary John Reid granted the US request and Mr McKinnon began his court battle.
Last year his lawyers argued at the High Court in London that he had been subjected to "improper threats" and the extradition would breach his human rights but two judges said they could find no grounds for appeal.
Mr McKinnon has never denied that he accessed the computer networks of a wide number of US military institutions between February 2001 and March 2002.
He has always maintained that he was motivated by curiosity and that he only managed to get into the networks because of lax security.
Mr Pannick told the Law Lords: "It is not in dispute that the courts enjoy a power to refuse to extradite alleged offenders under the Extradition Act if the court considers there has been an abuse of process.
"The US prosecutors sought to impose pressure on the appellant, through his legal advisors, to consent to extradition and plead guilty."
Mr McKinnon was told if he co-operated he would receive a lesser sentence of between 37 to 46 months and be repatriated to the UK where he would enjoy the benefits of the UK parole system, Mr Pannick said.
He said: "By contrast, the appellants representatives were told that if he declined to co-operate this sentence would be in the region of eight to ten years, possibly longer. This was pressure of an unacceptable degree."
Mr Pannick also said the US authorities had indicated that charges involving "significantly damaging national security" would not be pursued if McKinnon co-operated.
Clare Montgomery QC, representing the Home Secretary, is arguing that no threats were made against Mr McKinnon by the US authorities and the extradition should therefore go ahead.
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"There are estimates that by the end of the term of this administration, they will have lost more jobs than almost any other presidential administration."
That Rose Garden event — there's been a great deal of speculation about it — my wife Karen and I were there and honored to be there. Many of the people who were at that event, Susan, were actually tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists r...
