Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who is accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents, will remain in custody before his trial per a federal judge’s ruling Friday.
The 21-year-old had allegedly shared classified military documents about the Russo-Ukrainian War and other national security issues on Discord, causing a frenzy.
During Friday’s hearing in Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy explained his reasoning by citing Teixeira’s past disturbing online statements and a “fascination with guns”.
Hennessy also noted that Teixeira was previously admonished by his bosses for not handling sensitive information properly.
The judge called the leak “a profound breach of the defendant’s word that he would protect information related to the security of the United States.”
PENTAGON LEAK SUSPECT JACK TEIXEIRA CHARGED IN FEDERAL COURT, TELLS DAD ‘I LOVE YOU’
Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, center, is seated as defense attorney Brendan Kelley stands and speaks, at right, and his father Jack Michael Teixeira is seated in the witness stand, during a detention hearing in federal court, on Thursday in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Justice Department wants Teixeira held in pretrial detention. (Margaret Small via AP)
“Who did he put at risk? I mean, you could make a list as long as a phone book,” the judge said.
Prosecutors has previously argued that America’s foreign adversaries might reach out to Teixeira to obtain more sensitive information from him. Hennessy noted that he found those arguments compelling.
“It doesn’t seem implausible at all that a foreign government would make an overture to this defendant to get information,” the judge said.
WHO IS JACK TEIXEIRA, THE AIR NATIONAL GUARDSMEN ALLEGEDLY BEHIND LEAKED CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?
Selfie of Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old National Guard Airman accused of leaking classified information. (Facebook)
Prosecutors also noted that Teixeira had a history of making violent comments – he was suspended from high school in 2018 after a classmate heard him talking about Molotov cocktails and racial threats. His social media was littered with comments about violence and murder.
Teixeira was also reprimanded by his superiors of viewing information “that was not related to his primary duty and was related to the intelligence field” in October and September, according to internal Air National Guard memos.
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Relatives of Jack Teixeira leave the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 14, 2023. – Teixeira, 21, an employee of the US Air Force National Guard, was charged with leaking a trove of classified US government documents as he made his first appearance in court Friday. Teixeira was arrested April 13 following a week-long probe into one of the most damaging leaks of secrets since the 2013 dump of National Security Agency documents by Edward Snowden. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
This story is still developing, check back with us for updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
