The parents of alleged NSA leaker Reality Leigh Winner appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about their daughter's arrest, reaffirm that she is 'a patriot' and explain how she worried she might 'disappear'.

Winner's mother Billie-Jean Davis and her step-father Gary Davis spoke with Anderson Cooper on CNN before Tuesday's show aired.

'She hasn't admitted it to us at all,' Billie-Jean told Cooper. 'What she told me was that she was terrified.

'She was terrified of the situation and she did tell me that also she was afraid she was going to disappear, that they were going to make her disappear and she felt like she needed to give them what they were asking for at the time and so she was terrified.'

'We did not have any information with regard to the charges or anything until after the hearing on Monday,' she added.

The parents of alleged NSA leaker Reality Leigh Winner appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 Tuesday

Winner's mother Billie-Jean Davis and her step-father Gary Davis spoke to Cooper about their daughter's arrest, reaffirm that she is 'a patriot' and explain how she worried she might 'disappear'

Bernie Sanders-supporting Reality Winner served as a linguist in the US Air Force since 2013 and spoke Pashto, Farsi and Dari. Pictured here in uniform with her mother Billie

Gary said: 'I don't care what they accused her of doing. I know that she served her country. She's a veteran of the United States Air Force and served with distinction for six years.

'She's a patriot and to see her maligned and slandered in the media is very disheartening. This young lady has served her country well and received praise from her commanders and she still continued to serve after she got out of the Air Force.'

After Cooper asked what they thought about the severity of the charges, Billie-Jean said: 'I just want to say that if she did what she's being accused of, she is, I know that she's ready to pay the price.

'I know that she - she's going to do whatever she needs to do to pay that price.'

She later added: 'I'm terrified for her right now because of the news, the climate, the social media. I'm terrified that she is not going to be treated fairly.'

Cooper then asked if Billie-Jean thought Winner would be made an example of and she replied: 'Yes, yes. I do.'

Billie-Jean said: 'I'm terrified for her right now because of the news, the climate, the social media. I'm terrified that she is not going to be treated fairly'

Billie-Jean and Gary have flown from their home in Texas to be nearer their daughter, who will be arraigned on Thursday

Billie-Jean and Gary also spoke with DailyMail.com Tuesday, saying that her daughter always does what's right, had served her country for six years and had never been in trouble with anyone.

Billie-Jean said they didn't know what was going on and wouldn't know anything more until her daughter's next hearing on Thursday.

'We haven't talked with her that much. We saw her only at the court hearing. I think she's doing okay,' she said. 'I'm overwhelmed, I'm very worried about her. I never saw any of this coming.'

Mrs Davis spoke outside her daughter's home alongside her husband Gary. He hinted at her defense by saying people were using her for 'their own political purposes'.

If found guilty of breaching the Espionage Act by passing an NSA analysis of alleged Russian hacking to The Intercept, she faces up to ten years in prison.

Her father's comments and Winner's social media accounts, which is filled with loathing for Donald Trump, suggests she may try to claim her prosecution is politically-motivated and that she was acting as a whistleblower.

Speaking outside the Augusta, Georgia, home where Winner was arrested on Saturday by ten car loads of FBI agents, her mother said her daughter had not been politically-minded growing up.

'She's a good girl, she's a good person, she's never been in trouble with anyone, the law or anything.

'She always does what's right. She served her country, she was in the Air Force for six years. She volunteers, she does whatever she can to make the community and the world better. That's what she wants to do.'

Mrs Davis said that the 25-year-old did not share anything about her job with her parents but described her interests.

'She's very talented artist - she paints, she draws. She loves studying about anything and everything she can.

'She taught herself Arabic before she even got in the Air Force. She's a yoga instructor and very athletic. Loves to work out, that is her world.'

Reality Leigh Winner, a decorated former US Air Force linguist who held Top Secret government clearance, is accused of leaking NSA intelligence

When she wasn't tweeting about Trump, Winner spent much of her free time working out

The government charged Winner, 25, a Georgia intelligence contractor, with removing classified material from a government facility.

'Winner is a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation assigned to a U.S. government agency facility in Georgia,' according to a government criminal complaint.

'She has been employed at the facility since on or about February 13, and has held a Top Secret clearance during that time.

'On or about May 9, Winner printed and improperly removed classified intelligence reporting, which contained classified national defense information from an intelligence community agency, and unlawfully retained it.'

'Approximately a few days later, Winner unlawfully transmitted by mail the intelligence reporting to an online news outlet,' according to the release.

'FBI has arrested and charged the woman they say leaked a Top Secret document to The Intercept,' NBC News reported, citing a federal official.