Marjorie Taylor Greene should lose her security clearance after defending Pentagon leaker, Liz Cheney says

Airman Jack Teixeira could face as much as 15 years in prison following arrest by armed FBI agents

Graeme Massie

Los Angeles

Friday 14 April 2023 20:19 BST

Comments

Guardsman accused of US intelligence leak to remain jailed

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Marjorie Taylor Greene should lose her security clearance after defending the alleged Pentagon leaker, says Liz Cheney.

The far-right Republican lawmaker from Georgia has been widely criticised for coming to the defence of Airman Jack Teixeira following his arrest by the FBI in Massachusetts.

On Friday, the 21-year-old was charged with unauthorised detention and transmission of national defence information and unauthorised removal of classified information and defence materials. The airman didn’t enter a formal plea.

The judge said that the airman could face as much as 15 years in prison, 10 years for the first charge, and five for the second.

That did not stop Ms Greene from taking to Twitter to show her support for Jack Teixeira, whom she lauded for being “white, male, christian and antiwar” – although she wrongly called him “Jake Teixeira”.

This image made from video provided by WCVB-TV, shows Jack Teixeira, in T-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Dighton, Mass. (AP)

“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. 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,” she tweeted.

“Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”

Marjorie Taylor Greene makes clear yet again that she cannot be trusted with America’s national security information and should not have a security clearance of any kind. https://t.co/8RtX3XxMmY
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) April 13, 2023

In a follow-up tweet, Ms Greene claimed the suspect had been “blowing the whistle” in breaking the law.

Her tweets caught the attention of Ms Cheney, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, who tweeted that Ms Greene “cannot be trusted” to have any kind of security clearance.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene makes clear yet again that she cannot be trusted with America’s national security information and should not have a security clearance of any kind,” tweeted Ms Cheney.

The arrest affidavit unsealed on Friday revealed that Airman Teixeira had a top-secret clearance and that he had access to sensitive compartmentalised information, which was needed for him to do his job as a cyber defence operations journeyman.

The filing stated that some of the images shared online “appear to depict Government Information that was used to inform senior military and civilian government officials during briefings at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies