Jack Teixeira is the 21 year old National Guardsman who leaked highly classified documents related to the Ukraine war to impress his gaming buddies. Yesterday the government filed a brief supporting its request that he be denied bail and jailed pending trial.
The brief raises profound questions, to include just how did this guy get a security clearance. In March 2018 he was suspended from High School after making remarks about “weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats.” In 2018 he was denied a firearms identification card “due to the concerns of the local police department over the Defendant’s remarks at his high school.” He would perversely later use his entrusted position in the government to get that application approved in what must be regarded as some monumental backassward reasoning.
Then there is the question of how he kept his security clearance. He used his government computer to search for classified materials, particularly for matters dealing with Ukraine. He also used his government computer to search for the terms “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Buffalo tops shooting,” and “Uvalde.” These searches were unrelated to his job, but his making them on the government computer sounded no alarms.
Even more disturbing was Teixeira’s social media history that included repeated comments supportive of violence and murder. These included:
- that if he had his way, he would “kill a [expletive] ton of people” because it would be “culling the weak minded.”
- He described a minivan as an “assassination van.”
- He sought advice from others on the best rifle to use in an SUV when shooting in a “crowded urban or suburban environment.”
- He described SUVs and crossovers as “mobile gun trucks” and “good assassination vehicles.”
Further, Teixeira had acquired the tools necessary to fulfill his terrorist fantasies. Found in his bedroom, and in a nearby dumpster, was a veritable standard MAGA seditionist toolkit that included, handguns, bolt-action rifles, an AK rifle, a gas mask, ammunition and tactical pouches, a silencer, a military style helmet with a mounting bracket for a GoPro camera and a GoPro camera. That was just in his home. According to the DOJ a search of his primary and secondary residences (including those of his parents) “revealed the existence of a virtual arsenal of weapons, including bolt-action rifles, rifles, AR and AK-style weapons, and a bazooka.”
It’s no wonder various high profile MAGAs have elevated this guy into some sort of heroic “whistleblower.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, sitting on our Homeland Security Committee with access to classified materials herself, declared him innocent because he’s white and Christian.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson whined that Teixeira was being treated worse than Osama Bin Laden when his only sin was telling the truth.
For the record, one argument against his release is that the government believes Teixeira may still have classified documents that he could still leak if released. The Tuckers and Greenes of the world seek more damage to our national security.
