Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s praise for the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman who was arrested last week for leaking classified military documents was “one of the most irresponsible statements she could make.”
“If you’re a member of the military intelligence community and you disagree with American policy and you think you’re going to be okay when it comes to leaking classified information, you’re going to go to jail,” Graham said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It’s one of the most irresponsible statements she could make.”
Hours after the arrest of Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira on Thursday, Greene tweeted: “Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar,” Greene said on Twitter on Thursday. “That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more.”
The leaked documents, some of which U.S. officials have indicated are doctored, showed NATO intelligence about the war in Ukraine, including death tolls and the training of Ukrainian troops. A subset of Republicans who had already soured on U.S. support of the war have used the documents as an argument against the amount of American involvement in the conflict.
Graham offered a scorching rebuke of such criticisms, saying it would “destroy America’s ability to defend itself.”
“What they’re suggesting will destroy America’s ability to defend itself,” Graham said. “That it’s OK to release classified information based on your political views. That the ends justify the means. And for any member of Congress to suggest it’s OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger.”
Graham has been a staunch supporter of the Ukrainian government in its fight against Russia, and has pressed the Biden administration and other lawmakers to allow for even more American support of Ukraine, even as some of his colleagues have started to question U.S. involvement.