Attorneys for a former National Security Agency contractor charged with leaking information about Russian hacking of the nation’s election infrastructure to an online magazine say that FBI agents violated her constitutional rights when they detained and questioned her prior to her arrest.
In court papers filed late Tuesday, former contractor Reality Winner’s defense team—including the former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—contends that federal agents detained Winner while executing search warrants of her home and car. They claim agents interrogated her at length as the only suspect but failed to administer a Miranda warning that anything she told them might be used against her or that she had a right to counsel. The defense has asked for an evidentiary hearing on the potential Fifth Amendment violation.
