[jaywalk]

But they were missing the key piece, which is that he leaked it. Without that, it's all circumstantial. Was he probably the one who leaked it? Yeah, I think it's safe to say that. But that's not where the bar lies in a criminal trial.

[boomboomsubban]

I believe possession of unauthorized copies of classified information is already a crime, though I think the possible charges are far less than leaking it.

[jaywalk]

You are correct, which is why they wanted to get him convicted of leaking it.

[hermitdev]

But, do they need to prove that he leaked it? Surely the backdoor and exfiltrating the data alone would be enough to put him away from a long time, even if he never shared it with anyone.

[jaywalk]

They need to prove that he leaked it if they want him to be convicted of it. And they want that because the punishment for it is far more severe.