EXCLUSIVE: US Airman, 20, accused of leaking Pentagon’s Ukraine secrets posted video of himself shooting dad’s vintage SOVIET pistol, court documents claim
- Jack Teixeira allegedly shared a video of himself blasting the Soviet-era Tokarev firearm
- Feds have seized three phones to figure out more details about how Teixeira allegedly leaked the classified information
- Teixeira is accused of leaking the documents offering details of Ukraine’s war effort and the US spying on its allies on messaging app Discord
U.S. Airman Jack Teixeira showed off his father’s vintage Soviet pistol to the buddy who ratted him out to the FBI for leaking top secret U.S. intelligence and military documents on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, newly filed court records show.
A 20-page application for a search warrant on the homes of his divorced parents, his cell phone and his red 2016 Chevrolet Colorado submitted to the court by FBI Agent Victoria Horne provides another peak into how the federal government plan to make their case against the U.S. Air Force guardsman.
Horne wrote in her affidavit that the bureau has already seized three cell phones that the family handed over willingly on April 13, the day that Teixeira was arrested.
On Friday, the U.S. Attorney in Boston charged him on two counts under the Espionage Act of the unauthorized retention and transmission of classified material after he shared sensitive documents with the roughly 50 members of his Discord gaming group known as Thug Shaker Central. Teixeira, whose facing 15 years in federal prison, did not enter a plea.
Jack Teixeira, 21 appeared in a Boston federal court on Friday and is facing 15 years in prison if convicted of illegally taking and leaking classified information and military secrets
A 21-year-old US Air Force National Guard employee has been arrested over the leak of highly sensitive US defense and intelligence documents
About 40 classified documents were photographed or transcribed for dissemination on the gamer social media platform, according to the federal agent, and they have records logs that show that Teixeira used his access at the Cape Code Air National Guard base that he’s assigned to view at least one of the documents.
He first started posting the sensitive information in December 2022 and in January of 2023 he began posting photos of the classified documents, according to Horne’s application.
This document appears to show the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and in May, when it is anticipated they’ll be badly depleted
A close-up of the same document appears to show how weak Ukraine’s air defenses will be by May
Some of the information not only contains top secret information but also describes how the U.S. obtained it, whether through a human source or satellite information or a hidden bug, according to the FBI agent.
One of his buddies on the social media group appears to be the FBI’s key witness and the partial basis for searching the mother’s home on Maple Street and the father’s house on Walker Street in North Dighton, Massachusetts, according to the court records.
He listed both his parents’ homes, which are less than a mile from each other, as his residence on his application for top-secret clearance.
Relatives of Jack Teixeira fought their way through a media scrum after seeing the 21-year-old make a brief appearance before judges to hear the charges against him
An FBI surveillance team saw Teixiera drive back and forth between the two addresses on the day that he was arrested and believed that he knew that the feds were closing in on him.
Teixeira’s buddy who ratted him out to the feds picked his car out in a line-up and confirmed a photo of him to investigators, Horne said.
The anonymous informant told the FBI that the airman posted a video of himself shooting a Tokarev firearm, a World War II-era semi-automatic Soviet pistol that they believe was part of his father’s vintage gun collection.
The FBI is asking the judge to allow the bureau to seize all the electronics—computers, cellphones, hard drives, thumb drives, etc – to determine if there’s evidence of more classified documents contained on them and to bolster their case against Teixeira.
