BOSTON — The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking secret military documents has challenged a judge’s decision to remain behind bars, signaling Monday the pretrial release of former President Donald Trump and other defendants in the document cases. high profile classifieds.
A trial judge who ruled in May that 21-year-old Jack Teixeira must remain behind bars while the case unfolds found that releasing him would risk him trying to flee the country or obstructing justice. Teixeira’s lawyers are now asking another judge to overturn that decision.
In court documents, defense attorneys argued that Teixeira has neither the financial capacity nor the incentive to flee, saying the government «greatly exaggerates Mr. Teixeira’s risk to national security.» Teixeira’s lawyers said prosecutors did not seek to arrest Trump, or his co-defendant Walt Nauta, despite the fact that the former president and his valet «possessed extraordinary means to flee the United States.»
“Former President Trump and the Trump Organization own property in several foreign countries, and former President Trump has access to a private jet. However, the flight risk posed by his knowledge of national security information and his abnormal ability to flee did not even result in a request to surrender his passport,” Teixeira’s lawyers wrote.
Teixeira’s lawyers wrote that the «disparate approach» in these cases, both charged under the Espionage Act, shows that the government’s «argument in favor of detaining Mr. Teixeira on this basis is illusory.»
Teixeira pleaded not guilty last month to six counts of intentionally withholding and transmitting national defense information. Each charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty to dozens of felony charges accusing him of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and refusing government demands to return them. While Trump was not required to surrender a passport, prosecutors said he was not considered a flight risk, the coroner ordered the former president not to discuss the case with certain witnesses. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and attacked the politically motivated impeachment.
Teixeira, of North Dighton, has been behind bars since his arrest in April on charges stemming from the biggest intelligence leak in years. His lawyers have suggested that he be handed over to his father and largely confined to his home with location monitoring and no internet access.
Teixeira is accused of sharing classified military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other sensitive national security issues on Discord, a social media platform popular with people who play online games.
Authorities say Teixeira, who enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, began around January sharing military secrets with other Discord users, first writing classified documents and then sharing photos of files marked SECRET and TOP SECRET. Teixeira worked as a «cyber transportation systems specialist,» essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks.
Authorities have provided few details about an alleged possible motive, but accounts from members of the private online chat group where the documents were revealed have described Teixeira as motivated more by bravado than ideology.
The judge’s decision to detain Teixeira came after Justice Department lawyers revealed in court documents a history of disturbing comments online. He wrote in November that he would «kill a (expletive) ton of people» if he had his way, because it would be «sacrificing the weak-minded.» Prosecutors also argued that he said he may still have unpublished material that could be of «tremendous value to hostile states that could offer him a safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.»
Teixeira’s lawyers wrote that there is no evidence that their client «ever brought his online conversations to life or ever endangered anyone in his community.» They also said there is no evidence to suggest that Teixeira is valuable enough that a foreign adversary would be willing to smuggle it out of the country.