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The Massachusetts A.A National Guard member accused of leaking highly classified military documents on social media will plead guilty in federal court, according to legal documents filed Thursday.
Jack Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged posting of classified documents on the social media platform Discord, but prosecutors have now asked a federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for Monday.
No further details were immediately available about the upcoming hearing or the status of Teixeira’s plea.
Jack Teixeira previously pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged posting of classified documents on the social media platform Discord, but prosecutors have now asked a federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for Monday.
FBI agents arrest Jack Teixeira, a U.S. Air Force National Guard employee, in connection with an investigation into online leaks of classified U.S. documents, outside a residence in this still image taken from a video in North Dighton, Massachusetts, USA, on April 13. , 2023
Teixeira, a Massachusetts native, has been locked up since his arrest last April over the leak that put the military and the Biden administration on edge as they tried to mitigate the damage caused internationally.
The allies also had to be assured that their secrets were well safeguarded by the United States government.
Teixeira, 22, was charged with six counts of intentionally withholding national defense information and subsequently leaking it.
The young man was accused of sharing classified documents about Russia’s current war in Ukraine on Discord, a social media platform used primarily by video game enthusiasts.
Investigators say Teixeira was in charge of a group on the platform called Thug Shaker Central, which discussed guns and wars.
Teixeira joined the Air National Guard in 2019 and began sharing military secrets with his Discord friends last January.
Authorities say he first typed up classified material, but soon moved on to sharing photos from files labeled SECRET and TOP SECRET.
Before he was discovered, he worked as a “cyber transportation systems specialist,” an IT specialist for military communications networks.
Teixeira was discovered on April 6, the same day the New York Times published a story about the leaked documents.
The national guard had apparently searched the word “leak” within a classified system in an effort to find information about the investigation into the leaker, according to the FBI.
Teixeira, 22, was charged with six counts of intentionally withholding national defense information and subsequently leaking it.