Reality Winner, who was given the longest prison sentence ever to be imposed upon a civilian for leaking classified documents to the press, told 60 Minutes that she was motivated by her “love for what this country stands for.” (Watch full interview above)

“I’m not a traitor. I am not a spy,” she told correspondent Scott Pelley.

Winner, a linguist, is a decorated Air Force veteran who eavesdropped on suspected terrorists in the Middle East. Her reports helped military leaders identify drone strike targets.

Winner eventually became disillusioned with drone warfare’s high rate of civilian casualties. She left the military and took a civilian job with the National Security Agency.

While at the NSA, she discovered a classified report indicating that the Russian military had hacked 122 U.S. government organizations that were responsible for maintaining voter registration information. She believed the Trump White House was covering up the evidence. She printed out the report and leaked in to The Intercept.

Pelley asked Winner if she understood that the document was top secret.

“I knew it was secret,” she replied. “But I also knew that I had pledged service to the American people. And at that point in time, it felt like they were being led astray.”

Winner said she “did not betray our sources and methods. Did not cause damage. Did not put lives on the line.”

Once the report was made public, it helped election officials secure their online systems. Two high-ranking officials told 60 Minutes that Winner’s actions helped protect the 2018 elections.

But prosecutors easily detected that Winner was the source of the leak and charged her with espionage. They said she posed a “grave danger to U.S. national security” and was a threat to defect to the Taliban, an organization she worked to defeat.

The judge presiding over her case wanted to make an example of her. She was sentenced to four years in prison, where she routinely contemplated suicide. She struggled with drug abuse and eating disorders. She also contracted COVID-19.

Winner was released from prison in June 2021.

Speaking to 60 Minutes, her mother Billie Winner-Davis explained “What Reality did was not espionage. What Reality did was patriotism. She actually stood up and worked for the American people to give us the truth about an attack on our vote, an attack on our democracy, an attack on our country. And I’m very proud of her for that.”