The parents of the federal contractor accused of leaking classified material said they fear for their daughter's safety.
Reality Leigh Winner, 25-year-old Air Force veteran and contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, allegedly removed and mailed "classified material from a government facility" to an unidentified news outlet, according to CNN.
"She hasn't admitted it to us at all," her mother, Billie Winner-Davis, told CNN's Anderson Cooper Tuesday, according to Mediaite.
"What she told me was that she was terrified. She was terrified of the situation, and she did tell me also that she was afraid she was going to disappear."
Winner-Davis added, "That they were going to make her disappear. She felt like she needed to give them what they were asking for at the time. And so she was terrified."
When asked if she was aware of her daughter's work, and her access to classified information, Winner-Davis said, "No . . . you know, for obvious reasons, she didn't share what she did. I didn't know what company she worked for. I didn't know anything."
On CBS News Wednesday, Winner's mother and stepfather said they drove over 1,100 miles from Texas to support her in Georgia, where "her words to me were that she was really scared that they would make her disappear," according to her mother.
"I'm terrified. I'm terrified that she's not going to be treated fairly and that they're going to try to make an example of her and that's not fair," she added.
"She's a patriot," her stepfather Gary Davis said.
Winner served for six years in the U.S. Air Force, earning a commendation medal in the process.
"She served her nation with distinguished honor. And that's who Reality Winner is. It's not the person that's being portrayed."
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