US airman suspected of leaking classified documents pleads not guilty in federal court News
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US airman suspected of leaking classified documents pleads not guilty in federal court

Jack Teixeira, the US airman suspected of leaking classified government documents, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday before a federal judge in a Massachusetts courtroom. Teixeira is charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information.

According to the court clerk’s notes, Teixeira appeared with legal counsel before Magistrate Judge David Hennessy. He then pleaded not guilty to all six counts and asked the court to reconsider his pre-trial detention. Hennessy again refused to release Teixeira ahead of his trial date, which has still not yet been set.

On June 15, the Department of Justice indicted Teixeira on six counts. All six counts address Teixeira’s alleged willful retention and transmission of US national defense information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e). Included among the counts are references to the leaked classified documents, including intelligence about the war in Ukraine, foreign plots against the US, and foreign relations information.

All six charges carry with them a sentence of up to ten years prison and a potential fine of $250,000, each.

Federal authorities arrested and charged Teixeira in April 2023 in connection with the leaked classified documents. At the time, Teixeira served as a Cyber Defense Operations Journeyman in the US Air National Guard (USANG) with top secret security clearances. Teixeira’s arrest warrant states that a government agency’s computer logs indicated Teixeira accessed certain documents days before they were posted on the internet.

Federal authorities first discovered leaked documents on Discord servers, where Teixera was noted to be a server admin. In a May motion disputing Teixeira’s request to be released from custody ahead of his trial date, federal prosecutors revealed they discovered evidence that showed Teixeira was aware he was not supposed to share the classified documents on the Discord server. Because of this and the judge’s belief that Teixeira presents a flight risk, Teixeira remains in federal custody.