Jack Teixeira: US guardsman charged over Pentagon leak 'talked of murder,' court filings claim

Teixeira has not yet entered a plea. Credit: AP

A US Air Force guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents kept an arsenal of guns and talked of “violence and murder” on a social media platform, prosecutors say in court filings.

The allegations were made in court filings ahead of Thursday's hearing for 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National guardsman Jack Teixeira.

New revelations from the court filings have raised more questions about why Teixeira had such a high-security clearance and access to some of the nation's most classified secrets.

Prosecutors wrote that Teixeira, who owned multiple guns, repeatedly had “detailed and troubling discussions about violence and murder” on the social media platform Discord, where authorities say he shared the documents.

In February, he told another person that he was tempted to make a minivan into an “assassination van," prosecutors wrote.

They 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 harbour and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”

What have we learned from the Pentagon leaks?
Jack Teixeira, in a T-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents on April 13. Credit: AP

Late Wednesday, the Air Force announced it suspended the commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron where Teixeira worked and the administrative commander “overseeing the support for the unit mobilized under federal orders,” pending further investigation.

It also temporarily removed each leader’s access to classified systems and information.

The former US Air Force national guardsman has been charged in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war.

It is believed Teixeira began sharing the documents in a Discord channel he ran called Thug Shaker Central. Credit: AP

The leaked documents appear to detail US and NATO aid to Ukraine and US intelligence assessments regarding US allies that could strain ties with those nations.

Teixeira has been charged under the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to remove or transmit classified national defence information, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

Court papers urging a federal judge to keep the young man 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.

What we know about guardsman charged over Pentagon documents leak
Pentagon says leaked documents a 'very serious' risk to security

He remains a grave threat to national security and a flight risk, prosecutors wrote, and investigators are still trying to determine whether he kept any physical or digital copies of classified information, including files that haven’t already surfaced publicly.

Teixeira has been in jail since his arrest earlier this month on charges stemming from the greatest known intelligence leak in years.He has not yet entered a plea.

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