Jack Teixeira sentenced to 16 years for leaking classified documents
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Teixeira was arrested in April 2023 for leaking classified documents, some of which concerned the war in Ukraine.
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Jack Michael Teixeira, center, father of Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, arrives at federal court, Monday, March 4, 2024, in Boston (AP)
In federal court on Monday, Jack Teixeira, the US airman accused of leaking top-secret Pentagon documents on the online platform Discord, pleaded guilty to six counts of willful transmission of national defense information.
He agreed to a roughly 16-year prison and eight months sentence under a deal where prosecutors agreed to drop more serious espionage charges.
He must also pay a fine of $50,000 and assist intelligence officials to understand the extent and impact of his disclosures.
Teixeira was arrested in April 2023 for leaking classified documents, some of which concerned the war in Ukraine.
If Teixeira had been charged under the Espionage Act, he could have faced life imprisonment. When questioned by the presiding judge about any disagreement with the evidence, Teixeira stated that he had none.
Asked whether he knew the documents were classified, he responded "Yes your honor."
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According to reports, a Pentagon official justified the Department of Defense's severe intelligence breach by saying, we entrust our members with a lot of responsibility at a very early age.”
The New York Times was quick to disregard Teixeira as "no whistleblower," citing a supposed video of the young airman spewing racist and antisemitic obscenities. Nonetheless, there are indications that Teixeira had severe issues with the US government.
According to WashPo, Texeira told his online friends that the government had previous knowledge a white supremacist "intended to go on a shooting rampage" in Buffalo in May 2022, but allowed him to do so in order to argue for increased funding.
Tucker Carlson, the prominent conservative pundit, defended Teixeira, stating: "So this 21-year-old Air National Guardsman from Massachusetts is not a whistleblower."
"He revealed the crimes, therefore he’s the criminal," Carlson sarcastically explained, "That’s how Washington works: telling the truth is the only real sin."
Read more: Australian PM: Enough is enough; time Assange is brought home
