Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts airman, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday in connection to the Pentagon documents leak. The 21-year-old allegedly oversaw the online Discord chat group where the documents were first shared.
Teixeira is likely to make an appearance at the Massachusetts district court. US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed his arrest.
Garland indicated that the 21-year-old will face charges under 18 U.S.C. 793, also known as the Espionage Act. It prohibits ‘obtaining information, recording pictures, or copying descriptions of any information relating to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation’.
A conviction can carry a penalty up to 10 years in prison and each document will be a separate charge.
“Jack Teixeira is looking at a possible 10 years in prison. Treason can be punishable by death, though that hasn’t been used since 1946,” a Twitter user noted.
“if convicted, Jack Teixeira will spend a long time in prison for leaking classified documents,” another one said.
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“Jack Douglas Teixeira, if he did indeed share classified documents with a group of friends &/or strangers on Discord, is going to spend a very long time in Federal prison. Not a good move,” a third one added.
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Teixeira reportedly oversaw a discord group called Thug Shaker Central. The leaked Pentagon documents with key information on Ukrainian air defenses was leaked on the online chat. The 21-year-old is a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
An FBI spokeswoman said that they took Teixeira into custody without ‘incident at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts’.
