A former online friend of alleged Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira helped turn him over to the FBI, a police report shows.
The affidavit, signed by officer Patrick Lueckenhoff, says investigators spoke to an anonymous member of a Discord chat room to reveal his identity.
User 1 of the invite-only social media platform spoke to federal agents on April 10 about how the 21-year-old posted classified documents online.
The court documents make it clear that the fellow Discord member helped generate leads for officials to expose the National Guard member.
Lueckenhoff said Teixeira “would have signed a lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement.
He added that the suspect “should have recognized that the unauthorized disclosure of protected information may lead to criminal prosecution.”
Teixeira posted a slew of highly classified military documents touching on the war in Ukraine and other national security issues.
He has now been hit with two federal charges for his alleged role in the Pentagon leak after appearing handcuffed in a federal court in Boston on Friday.
The airman could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of illegally stealing and leaking classified information and military secrets.
New questions are being raised about how Teixeira, who lived with his mother in North Dighton, Massachusetts, obtained permission to access such sensitive documents.
Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared in federal court in Boston on Friday and faces 15 years in prison if convicted of illegally stealing and leaking classified information and military secrets
A 21-year-old US Air Force National Guard employee has been arrested for leaking highly sensitive US defense and intelligence documents
His mother and father fiddled with another unknown relative in the front row while the rest of the courtroom was packed with press.
Teixeira said nothing as he walked in and sat with his hands in his lap for most of the hearing.
“Yes, sir,” he said when asked by Judge David Hennessey if he had signed the financial statement presented to the court. And “Yes, Your Honor,” he said when the judge asked if it was right.
The judge informed him of the charges against him and told him he had the right to remain silent.
His Bronx Public Defenders attorney Brendan Kelly whispered in his ear after the judge finished.
He stood up and held out his wrists for the US Marshals to handcuff.
As he was led away, his father, also named Jack Teixeira, shouted, “I love you, Jack.”
He paused, then turned and stared wide-eyed at the crowd in the press-filled courtroom.
“I love you too, Dad,” he said.
His parents said nothing after they left the courthouse because they were followed for about three blocks by reporters asking for comment and photographers taking pictures.
A supporter wearing a MAGA hat and a cell phone camera interjected between press inquiries and said, “This is all Joe Biden’s fault. He’s making your son a scapegoat,’ the man said.
Relatives of Jack Teixeira fought their way through a media scrum after watching the 21-year-old make a brief appearance before judges to hear the charges against him
Police outside the Boston courtroom where Teixeira appeared earlier Friday on two charges of leaking classified US intelligence documents
The leak is the most embarrassing — and arguably the most damaging — for the US since the 2013 WikiLeaks scandal, when National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden passed on confidential documents
Teixeira’s next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared to criticize the 21-year-old at a news conference earlier on Friday.
“People who sign agreements to receive classified documents recognize the importance to national security of not disclosing those documents, and we intend to convey that message of how important it is to our national security,” he said. he.
The leak is the most embarrassing — and arguably the most damaging — for the US since the 2013 WikiLeaks scandal, when National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden passed on confidential documents.
According to the indictment form, Teixeira received the highest security clearance in 2021 as a member of the National Guard.
FBI investigators arrested him without incident Thursday in Dighton, Massachusetts, before stuffing the 21-year-old into the back of a police van.
Teixeira posted the trove of top secret files under his online username “Jack the Dripper” for months before the leak was discovered.
He worked as a junior cybersecurity specialist in the intelligence unit at Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.
It is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular among people who play online games.
Teixeira allegedly posted about guns, games and top secret US government information.
The court filed Friday in Boston said some of his fellow chat room members had reported his activities to investigators.
It alleged that the 21-year-old used his government computer to search classified intelligence reports for the word “leak” on April 6.
That was the day the stories first circulated about the massive security breach.
Prosecutors allege he searched the term to determine whether U.S. intelligence had information about the identity of the person behind the leaks.
Jack Teixeira was facing two felony counts at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts on April 14, 2023. A member of the US Air Force National Guard, the 21-year-old was arrested on suspicion of leaking a trove of sensitive US government secrets.
This document appears to reflect the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and May, when they are expected to be severely depleted
He was identified as the leader of a chat room known as Thug Shaker Central on Discord.
He then allegedly posted images of folded papers because he felt his writings were not being taken seriously, the Associated Press reported.
US Justice Department officials have opened an investigation into the 21-year-old, whose actions have embarrassed US allies around the world.
Longtime friends of Washington, from Britain to South Korea and Israel, called much of the information bogus.
It outlined possible arms deliveries to Ukraine, as well as details of Western-led training for the Ukrainian armed forces.
But in an interview with ABC News, one of the country’s top military officials dismissed the leak’s impact on Kiev’s battlefield plans.
“This will not be able to affect the actual results of the offensive operation,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said.
The country’s best spy is considered one of the few Ukrainian officials who correctly predicted the timing of the full-scale Russian invasion of his neighbor.
The 21-year-old’s actions have been roundly criticized by lawmakers from all political parties.
But he received support from far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who falsely referred to him as “Jake Teixeira” on Twitter.
In yet another rampaging social media diatribe, the congressman representing Georgia’s 14th district claimed he was being persecuted because of his skin color.
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and anti-war,” Greene said. “That makes him an enemy of the Biden regime.”
The 48-year-old repeatedly repeats Kremlin talking points about Ukraine, including the completely fictional claim that the country is being overrun by Nazis.