(CNN) Before she was accused of mailing classified information to a media outlet , Reality Winner was a Texas-raised linguist, yoga instructor and animal lover who regularly took to social media to blast President Donald Trump. 
 
 The 25-year-old federal contractor now stands charged with leaking information regarding a 2016 Russian military intelligence cyberattack to The Intercept, an online news outlet. 
 
 The Justice Department announced charges Monday against Reality Leigh Winner, a contractor with Pluribus International Corp. in Augusta, Georgia. She is accused of "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet," according to a federal complaint. 
 
 She is now being held at a facility in Lincolnton, Georgia, her attorney said. 
 
 Who is Reality Winner? 
 
 -- Winner is a federal contractor with top secret security clearance. She had been assigned to a US government agency facility in Georgia since February 13. 
 
 -- She is accused of leaking classified information, used as the basis for an article published Monday by The Intercept, detailing a classified National Security Agency memo. The NSA report, dated May 5, provides details of a 2016 Russian cyberattack on a US voting software supplier, though there is no evidence the hack affected any votes. 
 
 -- Winner was a linguist in the US Air Force and speaks Pashto, Farsi and Dari, said her mother, Billie Winner-Davis. 
 
 "She served her country; she is a veteran," her stepfather, Gary Davis, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday: "She's a patriot, and to see her maligned and slandered in the media is very disheartening." 
 
 -- Winner served in the Air Force from December 2010 to 2016. Her rank was senior airman, and her last duty title was cryptologic language analyst, according to the Air Force. She provided support to missions and received the Air Force Commendation Medal in 2016, which is for members who have "distinguished themselves by meritorious achievement and service." She "provided over 1,900 hours of enemy intelligence exploitation and assisted in geolocating 120 enemy combatants," the award said. 
 
 -- She was raised in Kingsville, Texas, and served in the Air Force in Columbia, Maryland. Her mother confirmed she was a federal contractor in Augusta but did not know the nature of her work, or whether she had contracted for the NSA. 
 
 -- "Outside of work she works as a yoga instructor. She's just a normal person," her court-appointed attorney, Titus Nichols, said. 
 
 How did she become a suspect? 
 
 Winner is accused of printing the classified intelligence reporting May 9 and mailing it to a news outlet a few days later, according to the federal complaint 
 
 The Intercept contacted the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for its article. 
 
 The news outlet provided the US government agency with a copy of the document, according to the complaint. 
 
 After examining the document, it was determined the pages of the intelligence reporting appeared to be folded or creased, "suggesting they had been printed and hand-carried out of a secured space," according to the criminal complaint. 
 
 An internal audit revealed Winner was one of six people who printed the document but the only one who had email contact with the news outlet, according to the complaint. 
 
 Prosecutors said when confronted with the allegations, Winner admitted to leaking the classified document intentionally -- and she was arrested Saturday in Augusta. 
 
 She had removed the intelligence reporting from her office and mailed it from Augusta, according to the affidavit in support of her arrest. 
 
 Nichols cast doubt on the government's side of the story, and as for the purported confession, he said, "The bigger issue is: Was my client interrogated without her attorney?" 
 
 Winner is set to go before US Magistrate Judge Brian Epps for a detention hearing Thursday in Augusta, Nichols said. The judge will determine whether to release her on bond. Winner did not enter a plea in her initial appearance Monday. 
 
 What does social media reveal? 
 
 Winner posted under a pseudonym, Sara Winners, but didn't seem concerned with concealing her identity, using a photo of herself as a profile picture and posting a selfie in February. 
 
 She posted about leaks and regularly took to social media to complain about Trump , though her Twitter activity dropped off significantly after she began working for Pluribus in February. On Instagram, where she used the name @Reezlie, same as her Twitter handle, she mostly posted selfies from the gym or photos of food. 
 
 On Twitter, she followed Edward Snowden, WikiLeaks, several accounts with links to the hacking collective, Anonymous, and several "alt" government agency accounts that became popular after Trump's inauguration. Many of the accounts claim to be run by agency employees unhappy with Trump. 
 
 On Election Night, when it became apparent Trump would win, she tweeted, "Well. People suck. #ElectionNight" 
 
 Earlier this year, she took to Twitter to criticize Trump for golfing on weekends and later called the President an "orange fascist." 
 
 Though she didn't post explicitly about hacking or leaking, she liked and retweeted posts on the topic, including a tweet from Anonymous hinting at hacking Trump's computer and one about White House press secretary Sean Spicer's reportedly lax approach to securing his personal data. 
 
 Her last tweet appears to be from March 5, when she replied to @AnonymousPress asking, "what happened to the Feb 28th call for Trump to resign?" 
 
 Her mother said she wasn't especially political and had never praised past leakers such as Snowden to her. 
 
 "She's never ever given me any kind of indication that she was in favor of that at all," Winner-Davis said. "I don't know how to explain it." 
 
 Winner's attorney, Nichols, told CNN he was unable to confirm that the Twitter account was Winner's. 
 
 Who supports her? 
 
 WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange called on the public to support Winner, adding that the young woman is "accused of courage in trying to help us know." 
 
 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) June 6, 2017 
 
 "It doesn't matter why she did it or the quality the report. Acts of non-elite sources communicating knowledge should be strongly encouraged," he tweeted. 
 
 A GoFundMe campaign was set up for her legal battle. 
 
 Nichols has described his client as a veteran, not a traitor, and -- citing a statement from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein saying leakers of classified information must be held accountable -- accused the government of pursuing Winner for political reasons. 
 
 "You don't see very often the deputy attorney general releasing a press release before a case has been prosecuted," Nichols said. "The government seems to have a political agenda. They're going after a low-level government employee." 
 
 Asked whether the leaked documents were legitimate, he responded, "If the documents are accurate, then the bigger issue is: Did Russia hack our election?" 
 
 Who opposes her? 
 
 Many officials criticized the leak. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Chaffetz details right way to be whistleblower Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Chaffetz details right way to be whistleblower 01:22 
 
 "Just because you see something that is classified, you can't just hand that out like it's candy," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 
 
 "There's a right way and wrong way to do this. If you feel compelled to share information that's classified because you're concerned about the implications, there are legal ways in which you can have whistleblower protection and go to committee for instance, on oversight, and protect your legal rights and not get yourself in trouble. 
 
 "A contractor, a federal employee cannot just take it upon themselves to bypass the classification system," Chaffetz said. 
 
 Steve Hall, former CIA chief of Russia operations, said that while leaks are part of the tensions in an open society, they could tip off the Russians to protect themselves better next time. 
 
 "It's a morally difficult situation because, yes, there is public value in these leaks, but by the same token, there's a high public intelligence price to pay and the public is less protected in the future if this stuff gets out," said Hall, a CNN national security analyst. ||||| SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A young woman charged with leaking U.S. secrets to a news organization told FBI agents she was frustrated with her job as a government contractor when she tucked a classified report into her pantyhose and smuggled it out of a National Security Agency office in Georgia, according to court records. 
 
 Prosecutors are using Reality Winner's own words against her as they urge a federal judge to keep the former Air Force translator jailed until her trial. In a court filing Wednesday, prosecutors attached a 77-page transcript of Winner's interview with FBI agents before her arrest in June. 
 
 "Yeah, I screwed up royally," Winner, 25, told the agents in a transcript that makes public the details of her confession, which prosecutors have alluded to in prior court hearings. 
 
 Did NSA leak suspect expose other state secrets? 
 
 In their latest filing Wednesday, prosecutors also included a partial transcript of a Facebook chat between Winner and her sister in February. 
 
 "Look, I only say I hate America like 3 times a day," Winner wrote. "I'm no radical. It's mostly just about Americans obsession with air conditioning." 
 
 Her sister asked: "But you don't actually hate America, right?" 
 
 Winner replied: "I mean yeah I do it's literally the worst thing to happen on the planet. We invented capitalism the downfall of the environment." 
 
 Winner faces up to 10 years in federal prison if she's convicted on charges that she printed a classified U.S. report and mailed it to an online news outlet. 
 
 Her mother told CBS News in June that Winner was "scared that they would make her disappear" following her arrest. 
 
 Family calls alleged NSA leaker "a patriot" 
 
 Authorities haven't described the report or named the news outlet. But the Justice Department announced Winner's arrest as The Intercept reported it had obtained a classified NSA report suggesting Russian hackers attacked a U.S. voting software supplier before last year's presidential election. The NSA report was dated May 5, the same as the document Winner is charged with leaking. 
 
 Winner told the FBI she was frustrated at her civilian contractor job, which involved translating documents from Farsi to English for the NSA in Augusta, Georgia, where the federal agency has facilities. 
 
 "I've filed formal complaints about them having Fox News on, you know?" Winner told the agents. "Uh, just at least, for God's sake, put Al Jazeera on, or a slideshow with people's pets." 
 
 Winner's attorneys have asked a judge prohibit the FBI interview, conducted at Winner's home in June as agents executed a search warrant, from being used as evidence. Defense attorneys say agents never read Winner her Miranda rights. She had not yet been formally arrested, but Winner's attorneys say she had every reason to believe she was in custody. The judge has not ruled on that motion. 
 
 U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian K. Epps has scheduled a hearing Friday on Winner's renewed request for bond. Her lawyers say it's unfair to keep her locked up pending trial, considering Winner has no prior criminal record and prosecutors have filed no new charges months after warning Winner may have stolen other secrets. Winner has pleaded not guilty in the case. 
 
 Prosecutors say Winner poses a flight risk if released and her knowledge of government secrets makes her "an extremely attractive recruitment target for foreign intelligence agencies" and others seeking classified information. 
 
 Combination photo showing Reality Winner in undated booking photos in Lincolnton, Georgia, received on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Lincoln County, Georgia, Sheriff's Office 
 
 In the interview, Winner at first denied several times that she leaked any secret documents. She said she had been trying to get an assignment working with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. 
 
 First she acknowledged printing a report that "looked like a piece of history." She told the agents "I thought it would be cool if I had it on my desk for a couple of days." But she insisted she dropped the report in a bin used for papers that were to be destroyed. 
 
 "I mean, I'm trying to deploy," Winner said. "I'm not trying to be a whistleblower. That's crazy." 
 
 She changed her story after an agent asked bluntly how she got the document out of the office. 
 
 "Folded in half in my pantyhose," Winner replied. 
 
 "OK. And what did you do with it?" the agent asked. 
 
 "Put it in an envelope and sent it to (redacted)," Winner said. 
 
 Winner said she dropped the report in a mailbox located in a shopping center parking lot. 
 
 Any details of the report's contents and to whom Winner mailed it were redacted from the transcript. She said she asked herself: "Why isn't this out there? Why can't this be public?" 
 
 "I saw the article and was like, I don't know why this isn't a thing," she told the FBI. "It made me very mad. ... I guess I didn't care about, like, myself at that point." ||||| In this June 6, 2017 image made from video, Billie Winner-Davis, left, the mother of Reality Leigh Winner, and her stepfather Gary Davis, speak to media about their daughter in east Augusta, Ga. Winner... (Associated Press) 
 
 AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge ordered a young woman charged with leaking classified U.S. documents to remain jailed until her trial after prosecutors argued Thursday she might possess more stolen government secrets. 
 
 Prosecutors also said 25-year-old Reality Winner might try to flee the U.S. if released on bond. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari told the judge Winner had written in a notebook: "I want to burn the White House Down ... find somewhere in Kurdistan to live. Ha-ha!" 
 
 Wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg shackles, Winner pleaded not guilty in U.S. district court to charges that she illegally retained and transmitted national defense information. The federal crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if she's convicted. 
 
 The former Air Force linguist, who speaks Arabic and Farsi and had a top-secret security clearance, was working as a government contractor in Augusta when she copied and mailed a classified report containing top-secret material to an online news organization, prosecutors say. 
 
 Authorities haven't described the report or named the news outlet. But the Justice Department announced Winner's arrest Monday as The Intercept reported it had obtained a classified National Security Agency report suggesting Russian hackers attacked a U.S. voting software supplier before last year's presidential election. The NSA report was dated May 5, the same as the document Winner is charged with leaking. 
 
 Prosecutors warned U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Epps that Winner might have more stolen secrets. Solari said investigators have learned Winner inserted a portable hard drive in a top-secret Air Force computer before she left the military last year. She said authorities don't know what happened to the drive or what was on it. 
 
 Solari said Winner's laptop also contained software that could enable her to access online black-markets and buy items — such as a fake ID or passport — without revealing her identity or location. 
 
 "We don't know how much more she knows and how much more she remembers," Solari said. "But we do know she's very intelligent. So she's got a lot of valuable information in her head." 
 
 Winner's mother and stepfather told the judge she had no criminal history and they would use their 20-acre home in Kingsville, Texas, to finance her bond with confidence she would never run. 
 
 "Because my client is a millennial and she knows how to use technology, that's somehow proof of evil intent," said Titus Nichols, Winner's defense attorney. "The government is scraping and clawing to build a mountain out of a molehill." 
 
 Solari argued that Winner isn't the upstanding young woman her parents believe her to be. She said that during one of her jailhouse phone calls, which were recorded, Winner said she planned to "play that card: being pretty, white and cute." 
 
 The judge said he was worried about what happened to the portable hard drive prosecutors mentioned, as well as references Winner had made in her notebook about the Middle East. He also mentioned her written comment about burning the White House. 
 
 "Whether that's a jest or not, it still concerns me," Epps said. 
 
 Solari cautioned that prosecutors were not trying to link Winner to terrorism. 
 
 "The government is not in any way suggesting the defendant has become a jihadist or that she is a Taliban sympathizer," Solari told the judge. 
 
 An FBI affidavit says Winner confessed to copying and mailing the classified report when agents searched her home last Saturday. They seized items including cellphones, computers and Winner's passport. 
 
 Solari said Winner also confessed to her mother during a recorded jailhouse phone call, saying: "Mom, those documents. I screwed up."
– Reality Winner was charged Monday with leaking a document about the Russian hacking of US electoral systems. One of the most surprising things, according to NBC News, was that a 25-year-old had top-level security clearance. But apparently it's not that unusual. Most people who do NSA work involving intercepting communications and translation are just out of high school. "There are thousands and thousands of 18- to 21-year-olds doing critically important and secret work around the world," an expert on the NSA says. Many of them, like Winner, are young members of the military. She served six years in the Air Force. A high security clearance is needed to listen in on terrorists or members of foreign governments. Intelligence officials are concerned that Winner is part of a growing number of American intelligence employees leaking state secrets not for money but because they feel the public has a right to know the information. The election of President Trump is making people feel like they need to take action. CNN details Winner's anti-Trump comments on social media. And ABC News has more information on the 25-year-old, including that she speaks Pashto, Farsi, and Dari and had recently worked as a yoga instructor, where she was known as a "reliable" employee. Winner's mother says her daughter is "very passionate about her views."