Guardsman accused of leaking classified documents spoke of 'violence and murder,' prosecutors say

Jack Teixeira, in T-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and TARA COPP

Associated Press

April 27, 2023 Updated 6:18 PM PT

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents kept an arsenal of guns and said on social media that he would like to kill a “ton of people,” prosecutors said in arguing Thursday that Jack Teixeira should remain in jail for his trial.

The judge at Teixeira’s detention hearing put off an immediate decision on whether he should be kept in custody or released to home confinement or under other conditions. Teixeira, 21, was led away from the court in handcuffs, black rosary beads around his neck, pending that ruling.

Court filings raise new questions about why Teixeira had such a high security clearance and access to some of the nation’s most classified secrets. Prosecutors said he may still have material that hasn’t been released, which could be of “tremendous value to hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”

The defense argued that the government has not shown he intended the leaked information to be widely disseminated, but Magistrate Judge David Hennessy was skeptical.

“Somebody under the age of 30 has no idea that when they put something on the internet that it could end up anywhere in this world?” the judge asked. “Seriously?”

Teixeira entered his hearing in Worcester in orange prison garb, smiling at his father in the front row. His handcuffs were removed before he sat down and put back on when he was taken out.

“You have a young man before you who didn’t flee, has nowhere to flee,” said Brendan Kelley, the defendant’s lawyer. “He will answer the charges; he will be judged by his fellow citizens.”

But Nadine Pellegrini of the Massachusetts U.S. attorney’s office told the judge the information prosecutors submitted to the court about the defendant’s threatening words and behavior “is not speculation, it is not hyperbole, nor is it the creation of a caricature. It is ... directly based upon the words and actions of this defendant.”

The defense said Teixeira no longer has access to any top-secret information, and had accused prosecutors of providing “little more than speculation that a foreign adversary will seduce Mr. Teixeira and orchestrate his clandestine escape from the United States.”

The prosecution’s filing reviews what it says are Teixeira‘s social media posts. One in November said he would “kill a [expletive] ton of people” if he had his way, because it would be “culling the weak minded.”

Court papers urging the judge to keep Teixeira in custody detailed a troubling history going back to high school, where he was suspended when a classmate overheard him discussing Molotov cocktails and other weapons as well as racial threats. More recently, prosecutors said, he used his government computer to research past mass shootings and standoffs with federal agents.

He remains a grave threat to national security and a flight risk, prosecutors wrote. Investigators are still trying to determine whether he kept any physical or digital copies of classified information that hasn’t surfaced yet.

“There simply is no condition or combination of conditions that can ensure the Defendant will not further disclose additional information still in his knowledge or possession,” prosecutors wrote. “The damage the Defendant has already caused to the U.S. national security is immense. The damage the Defendant is still capable of causing is extraordinary.”

Teixeira has been in jail since his arrest this month on charges stemming from the most consequential intelligence leak in years.

He has been charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information. He has not yet entered a plea.

His lawyers argued in court papers that appropriate conditions can be set for his release even if the court finds him to be a flight risk, such as confinement at his father’s home and location monitoring.

“The government’s allegations ... offer no support that Mr. Teixeira currently, or ever, intended any information purportedly to the private social media server to be widely disseminated,” they wrote. “Thus, its argument that Mr. Teixeira will continue to release information or destroy evidence if not detained rings hollow.”

Prosecutors wrote that he kept his gun locker within reach of his bed and that in it were handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon and a gas mask. Ammunition and tactical pouches were found on his dresser, they said.

He is accused of distributing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers. The leak stunned military officials, sparked an international uproar and raised fresh questions about America’s ability to safeguard its secrets.

The leaked documents appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments regarding allies that could strain ties with those nations. Some show real-time details from February and March of Ukraine’s and Russia’s battlefield positions and precise numbers of battlefield gear lost and newly flowing into Ukraine from its allies.

Prosecutors wrote that Teixeira repeatedly had “detailed and troubling discussions about violence and murder” on the platform. In February, he told another person that he was tempted to make a minivan into an “assassination van,” prosecutors wrote.

In 2018, they allege, Teixeira was suspended after a classmate “overheard him make remarks about weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats.” His initial application for a firearms identification card that year was denied because of police concerns over those remarks.

The Justice Department said it also learned through its investigation that Teixeira used his government computer in July to look up mass shootings and government standoffs, including the terms “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Uvalde” and “Buffalo tops shooting,” an apparent reference to the 2022 racist mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket.

Those searches should have triggered the computer to generate an immediate referral to security, which could have led to a more in-depth review of Teixeira’s file, said Dan Meyer, a lawyer who specializes in security clearance issues. The Air Force’s investigation will probably discover whether a referral was generated and whether security officers did anything with the information.

The Air Force has suspended the commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron, where Teixeira worked, and an administrative commander until further investigation.

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder wouldn’t discuss the specifics of Teixeira’s case. “We do want to allow the investigation to run its course,” Ryder said.

Teixeira’s lawyers said he has no criminal history. The incident at his high school was “thoroughly investigated,” and he was allowed to come back after a few days and a psychological evaluation, they wrote. That investigation was “fully known and vetted ” by the Air National Guard before he enlisted and when he obtained his top-secret security clearance, they said.

Months later, after news outlets began reporting on the documents leak, Teixeira took steps to destroy evidence, authorities said. Investigators who searched a dumpster at his home found a smashed laptop, tablet and Xbox gaming console, they said.

Authorities have not alleged a motive. Members of the Discord group have described Teixeira as someone who wanted to show off rather than inform the public about military operations or influence U.S. policy.

Billing records the FBI obtained from Discord helped lead authorities to Teixeira, who enlisted in the Air National Guard in September 2019. A Discord user told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December.

Tucker and Copp reported from Washington.