Federal prosecutors want to present evidence against accused leaker Reality Winner to the presiding judge in secret and without showing their hand to the defense, according to new federal pleadings.

In doing so, prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department may be running afoul of the 25-year-old former National Security Agency contractor's right to a fair trial, Winner's defense team argued in court papers filed Tuesday in federal court in Augusta.

Winner's lawyers are objecting to what they say is a decision by federal prosecutors to proceed unilaterally and in secret to prosecute Winner. She is charged with espionage, allegedly for leaking a classified document detailing Russian hacking of the nation's electoral systems to The Intercept, an online news publication.