A thought experiment for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and others on the right.
The federal government is adamant that Jack Teixeira, the National Guard airman accused of leaking numerous classified documents online, must not be released from detention before trial. He faces an extended prison sentence, for one thing, and allegedly took steps to obstruct the investigation into his actions. What’s more, a court filing made public Wednesday points out, Teixeira’s “troubling history raises serious concerns about what he would do if released into the community.”
In support of that assertion, the filing documents what investigators found in Teixeira’s house and in online conversations. Near his bed, a document says, he kept a gun locker including “handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, and a gas mask.” It notes that, while in high school, he was suspended after “a classmate overheard him make remarks about weapons, including molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats.” In online chats, Teixeira allegedly solicited opinions on how best to outfit a weapon to “shoot out of an [SUV]” in “a crowded urban or suburban environment.”
“If I had my way I’d kill a … ton of people,” he allegedly wrote, adding that the purpose would be “forcibly culling the weak-minded.”
Photographs of his home show a number of weapons and military-style decorations including multiple bullet-hole-riddled targets. An apparent Russian military pendant was pinned to a corkboard.
Teixeira should be considered innocent until proven guilty, of course, as is the case with anyone facing criminal charges. But being considered innocent of crimes does not mean that Teixeira should be granted the presumption of moral rectitude. There is no reason to assume, based on the evidence at hand, that Teixeira shared classified documents online out of a well-considered opposition to U.S. foreign policy or efforts to bolster Ukraine in its war against Russia. At one point, the government alleges, Teixeira offered to leak documents on request.
“If you guys … want happenings that pertain to your country or events or politics or whatever,” he wrote according to an FBI investigator, “you can DM me and I can tell you what I have, but it’s going to always be a brief summary.
