Alleged Pentagon leaker asks court to lift pretrial detention, cites Trump release

WASHINGTON, US - Alleged Pentagon documents leaker Jack Teixeira asked a court for pretrial release, arguing that the notion he is a flight risk is undermined by the government's decision not to detain President Donald Trump over charges related to mishandling classified documents, reported Sputnik.

"Mr. Teixeira is entitled to pretrial release under the Bail Reform Act because... he is not a serious risk of flight or obstruction of justice," his attorneys wrote in a document filed with a US federal court in Massachusetts on Monday. "The speculation that Mr. Teixeira is a flight risk by virtue of what he knows is squarely undermined by the government’s reasoned decision not to seek pretrial detention in other espionage cases, including most recently for either former President Donald Trump or his personal aid, Waltine Nauta, both charged with, among other things, mishandling classified national security information and conspiracy to obstruct justice."

Teixeira, a 21-year-old US Air National Guardsman, allegedly transmitted classified information beginning in or around January 2022. The documents purportedly contained information regarding the conflict in Ukraine, US espionage activities, and other national security matters.

After he was arrested in April, Teixeira was indicted on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defence in June. Each one of these charges could garner him up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to US$250,000.

In June, prosecutors charged Trump on a slew of counts related to alleged mishandling of classified information the FBI uncovered in a raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. - BERNAMA