Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman arrested on Thursday in connection with leaked Pentagon documents, was arraigned on Friday and charged with:
- Unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information; and
- Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.
The two criminal charges carry a maximum of 15 years in prison. Teixeira did not enter a plea and is detained pending a hearing on Wednesday. The government is seeking continued detention.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Teixeira’s arrest Thursday afternoon.
WATCH: AG Garland's full statement on the arrest of the classified intelligence leaker. pic.twitter.com/kgJ2sobPVQ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 13, 2023
At Friday morning’s proceedings,
Hennessy asked Teixeira if he understood that he has the right to be silent. Teixeira answered yes. The judge reminded him, “Your words can be used against you.”
At the end of the proceedings, Teixeira’s father shouted, “Love you, Jack!” — to which the suspect responded, “Love you, too, Dad.”
Per the AP, billing records from Discord, the server on which Teixeira and his friends communicated and where he shared the leaked documents with them, along with the interview one of those friends provided to the Washington Post, helped the FBI identify Teixeira.
Billing records from Discord helped the FBI identify Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira in the leak of highly classified military documents, according to unsealed court records. https://t.co/v4lamyYX2W
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2023
The details are set out in the Affidavit accompanying the Criminal Complaint against Teixeira, a full copy of which can be viewed below.
Billing records the FBI obtained from Discord, which has said it was cooperating with the bureau, helped lead investigators to Teixeira, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday.
According to the document, the FBI interviewed someone familiar with Teixeira’s online posts on Monday. That person, who is not identified in the affidavit, told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December.
The affidavit suggests Teixeira switched from typing out documents in his possession to taking them home and photographing them because he “had become concerned that he may be discovered making the transcriptions of text in the workplace.”
As RedState’s Managing Editor, Jennifer Van Laar, noted in this excellent analysis, Teixeira’s arrest raises far more questions than it answers.
That story changed markedly through the day, though, and the sparse information we have about Teixeira raised major questions about how he could have possibly had access to such a wide-ranging tranche of information, why what was finally reported as the true story was so different from what had been published earlier, and who was pushing the disinformation?
638282198 Teixeira Complaint by Susie Moore on Scribd
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