Greene defends accused Ukraine documents leaker
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Thursday took to Twitter to defend Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday over his alleged role in leaking Pentagon files.
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene said on Twitter.
“Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?” the congresswoman added.
A trove of apparent Pentagon documents appeared online in recent days. Some included confidential information on U.S. and NATO support to Kyiv amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, while others included information apparently gleaned from spying on allies such as Israel and South Korea.
The documents were shared in an online group reportedly run by 21-year-old Teixeira.
FBI agents took Teixeira into custody without incident on Thursday, according to the Justice Department.
Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated in a brief public statement Thursday afternoon that Teixeira could face charges under the Espionage Act.
“Today the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” Garland said.
The FBI in a statement said it had “aggressively pursued investigative leads” over the past week and that the arrest “exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray our country’s trust and put our national security at risk.”
However, Greene on Thursday described Teixeira as a “21-year-old low level National Guardsman ‘responsible’ for exposing the truth about Ukraine.”
Ukraine earlier this week suggested Russia was behind the leaks and raised concerns that some of the materials may have been altered, citing some discrepancies in casualty counts included in the documents.
Greene also claimed the leaker exposed that the U.S. has troops on the ground in Ukraine; however, the Pentagon has said since last year that a small team of Marines has been deployed to the U.S. embassy in Ukraine, which reopened in May.
One of the leaked documents noted that 14 U.S. special operations forces were in Ukraine as of February this year. U.S. officials have said they help provide oversight on U.S. weapons and Ukraine but are not deployed for fighting or to the frontlines.