Convicted Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira faces court-martial while already serving 15-year sentence
Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member who pleaded guilty last year to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine online, began his court-martial on additional charges Monday.Teixeira pleaded guilty last March to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, following his arrest in the most consequential national security breach in years.In November, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in what then-Attorney General Merrick Garland said was a punishment that “demonstrates the seriousness of the obligation to protect our country’s secrets and the safety of the American people.”In his court-martial at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, Teixeira faces charges of disobeying orders and obstructing justice.
His lawyer argued Monday for dismissal of the obstructing justice charge, with Lt.Col.
Bradley Poronsky saying it would amount to double jeopardy because it already came up at Teixeira’s November sentencing. However, prosecutors disagreed.The military judge then took the matter under advisement and postponed the proceeding until Thursday.At a hearing last year, military prosecutors said a court-martial is appropriate given that obeying orders is the “absolute core” of the military.
Teixeira’s lawyers argued that further action would amount to prosecuting him twice for the same offense.The leaks exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of the Russia-Ukraine war, including information about troop movements in Ukraine, and the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops.Teixeira also admitted posting information about a US adversary’s plans to harm US forces serving overseas.The 22-year-old previously admitted he illegally collected some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.“I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harm that I brought and...