Boston: When a judge ordered the Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking classified military documents to remain in custody, he appealed, citing the pretrial release of former President Donald Trump and other defendants in high-profile classified documents cases on Monday.
A magistrate judge determined in May that Jack Teixeira, 21, must remain in custody while the case is resolved because his release would increase the likelihood that he will try to flee the country or obstruct justice. Teixeira's attorneys are now requesting that a different judge overturn that judgment.
Defense lawyers stated in court documents that Teixeira lacks the resources or motivation to flee, and that the government has "greatly overstated Mr. Teixeira's risk to national security." Teixeira's attorneys argued that prosecutors failed to pursue the detention of either Trump or his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, despite the fact that the former president and his butler "possess extraordinary means to flee the United States."
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Former President Trump has access to a private plane, and The Trump Organization and former President Trump both own properties abroad. However, neither of them had their passports requested to be turned in, despite the flight risk posed by their knowledge of national security information and their unusual ability to flee, according to Teixeira's attorneys.
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The "disparate approach" in these cases, which are both charged under the Espionage Act, demonstrates, according to Teixeira's attorneys, that the government's "argument for Mr. Teixeira's detention on this basis is illusory."
Six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information were brought against Teixeira last month, but he pleaded not guilty. Each count carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Trump has also entered a not guilty plea to numerous felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago and defying requests from the government to hand them over. Trump was not required to turn in his passport because, according to the prosecution, he did not pose a flight risk, but the magistrate judge did order him to refrain from discussing the case with some witnesses. The prosecution has been criticized by Trump as being politically motivated while he has denied any wrongdoing.
Teixeira, of North Dighton, has been imprisoned since his April arrest on suspicion of participating in the biggest intelligence leak in recent memory. His attorneys have advocated for his release to his father, confinement primarily to his house, location monitoring, and denial of Internet access.
Teixeira is accused of posting sensitive national security information on the social media site Discord, which is well-liked by people who play online games, as well as classified military documents about Russia's conflict in Ukraine.
Teixeira, who joined the Air National Guard in 2019, is accused by authorities of starting to share military secrets with other Discord users around January. At first, he reportedly typed out classified documents before sharing images of files with SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. Teixeira was a "cyber transport systems specialist," or an IT professional in charge of the networks used for military communications.
Authorities haven't given many details about a purported motivation, but those who were part of the online private chat group where the documents were revealed have described Teixeira as being more brazen than ideological.
The judge decided to hold Teixeira after Justice Department attorneys disclosed a history of disturbing online remarks in court filings. In November, he declared that, given the chance, he would "kill a (expletive) ton of people" in the name of "culling the weak-minded." He claimed to still have material that hasn't been made public, which the prosecution claimed 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."
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There is no proof, according to Teixeira's attorneys, that their client "ever carried his online conversations into reality or ever endangered any person in his community." Furthermore, they claimed that there is no proof that Teixeira is so valuable that an enemy from abroad would be eager to smuggle him out of the country.