A member of the private online chatroom where a major leak of US classified documents surfaced has defended 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who was charged in connection to the leak on Friday, telling CNN that Teixeira shared the classified material to keep other members informed, “so we won’t be shocked by the news cycles.”
Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who was arrested, was “like a father figure to me,” said the chatroom member known online as Vahki, who said he is 17. The pair bonded over video games, fitness and Christianity.
Vahki claimed that Teixeira was attempting to look after his online friends by sharing the classified information with them.
“It wasn’t really ‘pushing these to teenagers for clout,’” Vahki told CNN on the social media platform Discord over the weekend, describing Teixeira’s motivation for sharing the documents. “It was more like showing these to friends, so we won’t be shocked by the news cycles. And we know what’s going on with our tax dollars.”
Teixeira is accused of posting a trove of classified intelligence – including sensitive information on the war in Ukraine – on Discord in a series of leaks that have rocked Washington and rattled US allies. He made his first appearance in federal court in Boston on Friday and did not enter a plea.
The scandal has put a spotlight on how a new generation of US military personnel socialize online and the risks that come with gaming platforms like Discord where anonymity is cherished. The US military has used Discord for recruiting but also warned service members as recently as last month not to “post anything in Discord that you wouldn’t want seen by the general public.”
Teixeira, who appears to be the only service member using the chatroom, didn’t tell his online friends the US military documents he was sharing…
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