Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira says if Trump can get away with it, why can't he?

 

The accused Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira who leaked classified information on the gaming platform Discord in April presented an argument about his release from detention, after facing the same charges as former US president, CNN reported.

The 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard was arrested by FBI officials who were accused of leaking the documents regarding the Ukraine war, US surveillance on friends and enemies, and Israeli intelligence Mossad supporting anti-government protests at home.

Some of the leaked documents had had markings that indicate that the documents had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm — J2.

The criminal investigation into the matter of intelligence leaks is led by the FBI's Washington office with a team of counterintelligence agents who have experience in finding the source of leaks.

Jack Teixeira argued before the court that he should be released as prosecutors did not oppose the release of former president Donald Trump.

A judge in Massachusetts ruled that Teixeira would be in jail while his trial for charges under the Espionage Act after prosecutors argued he mishandled the classified secret information while he was in the National Guard.

The magistrate judge, David Hennessy, said that Teixeira posed a continued threat to national security.

Teixeira’s lawyers stated in a new filing Monday that the judge should revisit his detention referring to other criminal defendants who were released while awaiting trial, including Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta.

“The speculation that Teixeira is a flight risk by virtue of what he knows is squarely undermined by the government’s reasoned decision not to seek pretrial detention in other espionage cases, including most recently for either former President Donald Trump or his personal aide, Waltine Nauta, both charged with, among other things, mishandling classified national security information and conspiracy to obstruct justice,” Teixeira’s lawyers wrote.

About Trump and Nauta, his lawyers said: “The government — without any suggestion that the information known to them could make them a serious risk of flight — determined that their retained knowledge did not pose a serious risk of flight and advocated for their release on personal recognizance and without restriction.”

The defense lawyers wrote that both Trump and Nauta "possess extraordinary means to flee the US … Yet, the risk of flight posed by their knowledge of national security information, and their abnormal ability to flee, didn’t even result in a request that either surrender their passport."

"The government’s disparate approach to pretrial release in these cases demonstrates that its argument for Teixeira’s pretrial detention based on knowledge he allegedly retains is illusory," Teixeira’s lawyers added.

The Air Guardsman pleaded not guilty to federal counts as Trump and Nauta did.