Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Sunday that the recent leak of classified information and military documents has been “damaging” to U.S. relations in the Middle East.
“I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, I’m in Israel. I can promise you, it’s been very damaging,” Graham told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” “There’s information about Mossad supposedly helping the protesters. There’s information about the air defense capability of Ukraine.”
“And everybody in the region is really worried because, who wants to share information with the United States if you’re going to read about it in the paper or find it on the internet,” he added. “So, this has done a lot of damage to us in the region.”
A trove of military documents with classified material appeared on social media platforms earlier this month, and appeared to include information about Ukraine’s military capabilities and also information about the U.S.’s spying operations in other countries, including some allies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday that U.S. cooperation with allies was “not affected” by the leaked documents. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday that the leak was “deliberate, criminal act.”
Law enforcement officials arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, on Thursday and was charged Friday for violating the the Espionage Act over the leak. Officials said that he uploaded the documents to a group on Discord, which is a platform largely used for video game players and other young people.
Graham, who is a former Air National Guardsman, also said Sunday he was “stunned” that Teixeira had access to the documents, saying that “some people need to be fired” over the leak.