Judge holds off on pretrial custody ruling for Pentagon leak suspect

TORONTO

A judge was considering Thursday whether to further detain Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of publishing classified intelligence documents online, after prosecutors asked him to reject Teixeira’s request to be released from pre-trial detention on the grounds that he could escape or seek refuge in a foreign country.

Teixeira, 21, is accused of leaking a number of classified military documents to his friends on the chat platform Discord, some of which were later posted on the internet. He stood before a judge for a second time Thursday.

The judge took in the views of the parties on Teixeira pending trial.

According to documents that prosecutors provided to the court, Teixeria was found to have had access to many more secret intelligence documents over the course of last year.

Searches of Teixeira's home had also uncovered an “arsenal” of weapons including AK-style assault rifles and a bazooka, according to the prosecutors.

Using his government computer, the suspect also searched for information on mass shootings and an “assassination van.”

Teixeira also has a long history of making violent racist and threats, according to the Justice Department lawyers.

The information about Teixeira raises many questions, including how he managed to obtain security clearance.

Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder avoided answering these questions, noting that Teixeira's case is still being investigated.

Leaked documents

On April 6, documents of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff containing up-to-date military and intelligence information on issues including the Russia-Ukraine war, intelligence activities related to Russia, Israel, Canada, South Korea and China and Iran's nuclear program were leaked.

The leaks on Twitter and Russian Telegram channels are as important as the 2010 WikiLeaks scandal, in which US diplomatic cables were leaked, and the Snowden crisis in 2013, when US digital surveillance activities were exposed, according to reports.

Despite the WikiLeaks and Snowden disclosures, many US experts suggest that the significance of the new leaks comes from the fact that the shared documents contain up-to-date information.

The leaked documents were shared on Discord and Telegram in February and March this year, but were reportedly only recently discovered.

*Kasım Ileri contributed to this story in Washington