The older sister of accused NSA 'leaker' Reality Winner insists the American people have the right to know about Russian electoral meddling and says her sibling is a 'patriot - not a traitor'.

Sarah Nicole Lopez also took aim at President Trump for 'making an example' of 25-year-old Winner, who faces up to ten years in federal jail if it's proved she mailed a top secret document to reporters.

'This is not the Celebrity Apprentice, he's not just firing someone,' Lopez, 42, told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. 'This is someone's life he's destroying.'

Her intervention came as her sister was told she would not be freed before her trial and prosecutors revealed she may have planned to leak ever more secrets.

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In custody: Reality Winner, the 25-year-old woman accused of leaking classified documents to a news outlet, was walked out of federal court in Augusta, GA, after being arraigned on Thursday. Her sister says she is a patriot and the public deserved to know what was leaked

Remanded: The former Air Force linguist appeared stoic and calm as Judge Brian K Epps ruled that she stay in federal custody until her trial

Winner was ordered to be detained on Thursday until she faces trial on federal espionage charges after she allegedly mailed a classified report to a news website

Driven away: The prosecution made its case for Winner to be detailed based on the 'downright frightening' allegations that she may have other documents to release and had also inserted a thumb drive into a top secret computer while she was still an active member of the Air Force

Family: Billie Winner-Davis, Reality's mother, and her stepfather Gary Davis, were in court to watch their daughter being arraigned

Kremlin claims: An NSA document published by The Intercept reveals a Russian-backed effort to target local government officials and U.S. firms as part of the campaign. This appears to be the document leaked allegedly by Winner

They also revealed how she wrote that 'I want to burn the White House down', and may have sympathized with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Winner, a decorated Air Force veteran who gained top secret clearance to work as an NSA contractor at the Georgia Cryptologic Center, an NSA facility beside Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, made no public declaration as she was arraigned in federal court on Thursday.

But she formally entered a not guilty plea and her defense attorney told the judge that the prosecution was seeking to make a 'mountain out of a molehill'.

Now her sister tells DailyMail.com that if her sister did leak the secrets, they were ones the public had a right to know.

A whistleblower defense would mean convincing a jury that the government was wrong to designate the document a secret in the first place, and that leaking it was the only way Winner could get the vital information into the public domain.

However the Espionage Act has nothing in it saying leaking in the public interest is a defense, meaning her attorneys may struggle to even raise the argument in court.

Lopez, however, said it was vital that the public know the truth about the election.

Winner and Lopez are sisters through their late father Ronald Winner, an ordained minister and psychologist whose interview subjects included the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

Bereaved: Ronald Winner, the alleged leaker's father, died last December at age 72 following a long battle with COPD. Her sister Sarah Nicole Lopez (center) says Reality is a patriot. Their other sister Brittany (right) is a scientist.

Happy childhood: Reality Winner was a gifted student and promising artist who excelled academically and joined the USAF at 18, turning down a Texas A&M scholarship

Patriot: Sarah Nicole Lopez says her sister's actions show her love for her country, which she served as a decorated member of the Air Force

Lopez, a mother of three and gym manager from Brenham, Texas, said she is yet to speak with her half-sibling and doesn't know if the accusations are true.

But she added: 'I firmly believe that Reality is a good person. She's got a beautiful heart.

'I believe what she did, she did for a reason. I believe in her heart she was doing what she thought was right.

'I firmly believe that there is a reason she did this and the whole of the Unites States of America needs to hear that reason from her.'

Lopez said she was particularly angry to hear her sibling, who served for six years in the Air Force, being branded a traitor to her country.

She said similar accusations as well as abuse and death threats have been posted on her own social media accounts just because the pair are sisters.

'If she supposedly leaked these documents, first of all why are these documents classified?' Lopez asked. 'And if Russia did hack into our system and play with the votes to get Trump elected, why is she the bad guy?

'Why isn't the United States government the bad guy for keeping this quiet from us? The public has a right to know this stuff.

'I do not believe that Reality is going to be treated fairly and I do not believe that she is going to get a fair trial. They are going to go after my sister hard and heavy and make an example of her.

'Trump has said he wants anybody who leaked found and prosecuted. He practically wants them damn-near beheaded because nobody is going to get in Donald Trump's way.

'I love her to death as a sister. I could not ask for a better sister. She is in no way, shape or form a traitor - she is a patriot.'

Fascination with religion: Reality Winner's home has a framed version of one of the Muslim religions' principal prayers, the Ayat al-Kursi. Prosecutors say she may have sympathized with the Taliban

Devotion to Arabic: When she was in Maryland, Reality Winner spent time with an Arabic-speaking storekeeper practicing the language and he gave her this rug as a keepsake. It is now in the room she had used for yoga

Faith: The Arabic-speaking linguist attended her local Episcopal churchin Augusta, GA, and had brought home a Palm Sunday cross before Easter. She also had a small statue of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed god

Pride: Reality Winner kept mementos of her time in the United States Air Force including a picture of her time at linguistics school in her home. Her sister says her service shows he patriotism,

Winner, a linguist and intelligence operative who worked as a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation, is charged with leaking classified information to a media organization.

SOLVED: THE MYSTERY OF REALITY WINNER'S UNUSUAL NAME Reality Winner's stepfather, Gary Davis, addressed her unusual name during an interview with DailyMail.com on Wednesday – and said that it had been bestowed on her by her late father, Ronald Winner. 'It's tough to see the vitriol and savagery from people who don't know who she is and don't know anything about it other than what they see in the government's filing or some story on her. 'They make assumptions because her name is something odd, that she's a crackpot,' Mr Davis said. 'It's not the case – her Dad named her. Reality is the youngest of all of our children.' Reality Winner has an older sister, Brittany, from her mother's first marriage to Ronald Winner. She also has a half-sister, Sarah-Nicole Winner, from her late father's first marriage and three step-siblings , Cole, Lyndee and Ross Davis, from her stepfather's first marriage. Mr Davis said that Reality's father had the honor of naming his second daughter. 'He always wanted to have a "Real Winner" so he named her Reality Leigh Winner. 'It's just a beautiful name. The plan was to call her Leigh because Reality is kind of a strange name but everyone who knew her just loved the name Reality and it stuck with her. 'I forget sometimes that she has ever been called Leigh – she's always been Reality.' Davis said that she goes by her full name, Reality, which caused a few problems when she went to set up social media accounts. 'Facebook would not let her use Reality until she contacted the administration of Facebook and sent them a copy of her driver's license before they allowed her. 'Then they got that straightened out. 'Some people try to pronounce it as something else – but it's Reality, that's all it is.' Advertisement

The news outlet has not been named but left wing website, The Intercept, published a top secret NSA report Monday that revealed apparent Russian attempts to hack into US voting systems.

Winner entered a plea of not guilty before Judge Brian K. Epps at U.S. District Court in downtown Augusta, Georgia on Thursday afternoon, where she was charged with 'willful retention and transmission of national defense information' and denied bail pending a trial.

Prosecutors dismissed suggestions Winner was a naive young girl who meant no harm, telling the court she may have stolen more documents on a flash drive that was allegedly inserted into her Air Force Computer and which has never been found.

The court was also told that Winner kept notebooks at her Augusta home containing lists of Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden.

In one book, the blonde veteran is said to have written: 'I want to burn the White House down and go live in Kurdistan.'

Present at Thursday's hearing were Winner's mom Billie Davis-Winner, 51, and 57-year-old stepfather Gary Davis, who have protested her innocence and say she has never been anything but a loyal American citizen.

Winner and her sister Brittany, 26, lived with their mother and Mr Davis in Kingsville, Texas, after Billie and Ronald Winner divorced in 2000.

Friends and former classmates in the town of around 26,000 inhabitants, a two-hour drive south of San Antonio, are stunned by the allegations that have made global headlines.

They described Winner as a 'top ten student' who avoided drinking and parties and turned down a scholarship to Texas A&M University-Kingsville to serve in the Air Force.

'I would always be doing stupid things at school like drinking and smoking cigarettes to try and look cool,' said Carlos Garcia, 26, a former high school boyfriend.

'Reality would always be telling me not to be stupid, warning me I could go to jail. I never once saw her drinking or smoking. She told me she tried beer once and hated it.'

Garcia and Winner dated for about a year but drifted apart in their sophomore year at H.M.King High School, remaining friends nonetheless.

He remembers her as a gifted student and promising artist who excelled academically. Winner loved sport, donning a cow costume as mascot for the school football team, the Brahmas, and goal tending for the soccer team.

Garcia, now living and working as a mechanic in Victoria, Texas, said: 'I met her in my freshman year when we decided to swap belts or something silly like that.

'I had one covered in skeletons which she thought was really cool. She gave me her white Star Wars belt.

'We started hanging out every day, we would go to football games, play video games, just chill with her family and do normal teenage things.'

Garcia eventually lost contact with Winner but they rekindled their friendship when she recently started a Facebook page and added him as a friend.

'This whole situation is so sad,' he added. 'She always did the right thing and respected the law.'

Apparently fascinated by Middle Eastern culture and languages, Winner started teaching herself Arabic at school and is fluent in Farsi, Dari, and Pashto.

When she became a linguist for the military, she was following in the footsteps of one of her stepsiblings, who is also a military linguist.

While assigned to the 94th Intelligence Squadron at Fort Meade, Maryland, Winner would visit Middle Eastern rug shops so she could practice her language skills with native speakers.

Secretive: Reality Winner worked at an NSA facility attached to Fort Gordon, Georgia. Before its opening earlier this year the Army posted a YouTube video showing renderings of the Army Cyber Command center to which the NSA facility is believed to be linked

Secretive: Reality Winner worked at an NSA facility attached to Fort Gordon, Georgia. Before its opening earlier this year the Army posted a YouTube video showing renderings of the Army Cyber Command center to which the NSA facility is believed to be linked

A vegan and yoga enthusiast, she developed a fanatical interest in yoga, Crossfit and weightlifting during her six years in the military, running six miles before training sessions merely to warm up.

She posted workout plans and videos on Instagram almost daily as well as forthright political views, allegedly labeling Trump an 'Orange fascist' in one Twitter posting and writing in another: 'Well. People suck. #ElectionNight'

Winner also posted a series of images from a recent trip to Belize she undertook in tribute to her biological father, who died last December at age 72 following a long battle with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

The two spoke at least once a week and Winner wrote of his passing: 'I still don't know who I am without you here or how to keep moving forward without the one person who believed unconditionally in everything I want to do in life.'

Winner-Davis told DailyMail.com the journey was something her ex-husband had always longed to do himself.

'The reason she went to Belize is because her father always talked about going there, he wanted to see the ruins,' she said.

'That was her way to realize his dream for him. I think that was about closure for her.'

Social media users plastered Winner's accounts with abuse and accusations of treason after her arrest.

If and when she is finally released from custody, Winner can at least expect little hostility from the handful of neighbors whose properties border her mother and stepfather's isolated rural home.

Veronica Garcia, 21, living several doors along, warmly remembers Winner babysitting for her and her brother and building them a snowman during a freak winter flurry.

'I don't know what to think but the family definitely have our support,' she told DailyMail.com.

Ashley Martinez, 26, a teammate from the elementary school soccer team, will be equally relieved to see her old friend.

'She was super smart, she never got in any trouble. I want to remember her how I remember her, not how everyone is describing her,' she added.

THE ANTI-TRUMP SAYINGS OF COMRADE REALITY WINNER The alleged leaker used social media to make her views of the president clear - raising questions over exactly how she gained Top Secret clearance. Her postings included: She also posted a signed picture of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, thanking her for her service Advertisement

THE CASE AGAINST REALITY: FEDERAL CHARGING DOCUMENTS REVEALED