Accused Pentagon top secret document leaker Jack Teixeira has pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges that a conviction on could send the former Air National Guard member to prison for many years.
Teixeira, 21, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to national defense.
His family said in a statement to media outlets on Wednesday that they continue to stand behind him and hope for a fair trial.
“We remain as committed as ever and our entire family continues to share complete and unwavering support of Jack,” Teixeira’s family said.
“Jack will now have his day in court. And as we move through this process, we are hopeful that Jack will be getting the fair and just treatment he deserves,” the family continued, while asking for “continued respect for our privacy during this difficult ordeal.”
Each of the six charges of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years behind bars, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
Teixeira was taken into custody in April and has remained jailed since his arrest.
Indictment
Teixeira joined the U.S. Air National Guard in September 2019 and, since 2021, he has held a top-secret security clearance. It’s believed that at some point in early 2022, he started mishandling sensitive information.“Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information—including information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
He is accused of inappropriately retaining and distributing national defense information that was classified as either top secret or secret. Teixeira allegedly shared this information on social media while aware that its disclosure could potentially harm the United States or benefit a foreign adversary.
“Teixeira is charged with sharing information with users on a social media platform he knew were not entitled to receive it. In doing so, he is alleged to have violated U.S. law and endangered our national security,” Garland added.
Teixeira was arrested in April after allegedly posting the highly classified materials on the messaging app Discord.
The documents allegedly leaked by Teixeira contained top-secret details about both allies and foes, covering topics from Ukraine’s air defenses amidst the Russian invasion to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
The case has sparked concerns about how a low-level airman could have access to Pentagon secrets.
President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into why he was privy to such sensitive information, while two commanders in Teixeira’s unit were later suspended pending a probe.
“Individuals granted security clearances are entrusted to protect classified information and safeguard our nation’s secrets. The allegations in today’s indictment reveal a serious violation of that trust,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
‘Top Secret’
Teixeira is accused of divulging this sensitive data on the Discord platform in two ways.
First, after accessing sensitive from a classified workstation at the Otis U.S. Air National Guard Base, he wrote it down and shared it with other users on the platform.
The second way was by posting pictures of classified documents directly onto Discord.
“The unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement.
His lawyers had pressed the judge to release him to his father, arguing that he has no criminal history.
The leak Teixeira is accused of carrying out led to a large number of images circulating online.
One document, supposedly leaked from the Defense Intelligence Agency, seemed to detail potential scenarios involving the Israeli government supplying weapons to Ukrainian forces. It suggested several situations, ranked from “most plausible” to “least plausible.”
Another document claimed to display the number of Russian and Ukrainian casualties as of early March 2023. This document alleged that the conflict had resulted in the deaths of between 16,000 and 17,500 Russian soldiers and up to 71,500 Ukrainian forces since the outbreak of the conflict the previous year.
However, officials from both the United States and Ukraine have said that the leaked documents related to the war in Ukraine might have been altered or manipulated.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the chief of Ukraine’s presidential office, said in a statement following news of the leak that the posts looked like a Russian disinformation operation to sow doubts about Ukraine’s predicted counter-offensive.
The Epoch Times cannot confirm the authenticity of the documents.
