Jack Teixeira’s hearing postponed in classified documents leak case at last minute
The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking a trove of classified US documents online will remain locked up for at least another two weeks after his detention hearing was postponed Wednesday.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was supposed to appear in Boston federal court for proceedings that would determine whether he should remain in custody while awaiting trial.
The judge, however, canceled the hearing at the last minute after Teixeira’s lawyer filed a motion requesting a two-week delay to give the airman’s defense more time to prepare.
Federal prosecutors had no objection to the postponement.
A new date was not immediately set.
Teixeira, who hasn’t yet entered a plea, was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents at his mother’s North Dighton, Mass., home April 13 and charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified defense information.
He is accused of accessing the classified docs at the Cape Cod base where he worked before posting them in a private chat room on Discord — a social media platform best known as a hangout for gamers.
The secret materials — including details about the Ukraine war and intelligence gathered about US allies — spread like wildfire after being shared on other social media platforms, prosecutors allege.
Court records unsealed last week alleged that Teixeira frantically searched the word “leak” on his government-issued computer on the same day the breach was first reported by the New York Times.
Discord billing records obtained by the FBI and interviews with Teixeira’s fellow chat room members also helped lead investigators to the service member, according to the affidavit.
An unidentified user told the feds that a Discord username linked to Teixeira had been posting what appeared to be classified information since at least December of last year, the court papers say.
Teixeira, who authorities allege was the leader of the Discord group, started typing out the docs to share with his online pals but later switched to taking them home and photographing them because he was “concerned that he may be discovered making the transcriptions of text in the workplace,” the affidavit alleges.
Air Force leaders said Tuesday they were still probing how a lone airman could access and spill the highly classified docs.
In the wake of the breach, the Air Force has stripped Teixeira’s Cape Cod-based Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing of its mission, pending further review.
