Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) defended a National Guardsman who is accused of leaking a series of highly classified U.S. intelligence materials, saying that he “told the truth.”
On April 13, federal law enforcement arrested 21-year-old Jake Teixeira for the largest leak of U.S. intelligence since 2013, when Edward Snowden revealed the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program.
In an April 14 tweet, Greene defended Teixeira’s actions.
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene wrote. “And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more.”
Greene continued, “Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”
Greene also alleged a contrast between how the administration handled the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion last year with its rush to find and arrest Teixeira.
Last year, an unidentified leaker in the Supreme Court handed Politico a draft opinion of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade that granted a constitutional right to an abortion, leading to a spurt of protests at the homes of conservative justices. Despite GOP calls to quickly identify and punish the leaker, no one has been identified as the source.
“They couldn’t find the Supreme Court leaker who put Supreme Court Justices lives in danger, but magically, they can find 21-year-old low level National Guardsman ’responsible' for exposing the truth about Ukraine,” Greene wrote.
“The same people that want to take away your guns waging war, in a foreign country, without permission from Congress.”
Commentators have criticized Greene’s statement, suggesting that they are treasonous or pro-Russian. Most lawmakers have not yet commented on the arrest one way or the other.
President Joe Biden on Friday praised authorities for their “rapid action” investigating the leak.
“I commend the rapid action taken by law enforcement to investigate and respond to the recent dissemination of classified U.S. government documents,” Biden said in a statement.
“While we are still determining the validity of those documents, I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information, and our national security team is closely coordinating with our partners and allies,” the president added.
Some commentators on the right have also criticized aspects of the handling of the case.
Donald Trump Jr. suggested that the media’s response to the suspected leaker highlights hypocrisy.
“Imagine the level of hero Teixeira would be to the media & to the left if he leaked that the Trump Administration was waging an unlawful war against a nuclear super-power without the knowledge of the people or the approval of Congress?” Trump wrote on Twitter on Friday.
