Pentagon leaker’s lawyers argue as long as Trump walks free — he should too
Three months after Jack Teixeira was arrested for allegedly leaking classified Pentagon documents, the 21-year-old's attorneys insist their client should receive similar legal treatment to former President Donald Trump, Wall Street Journal reports.
The National Air Guardsman, according to The Washington Post, "had an obsession with guns and liked to analyze mass shootings for 'fun,'" and prior to his arrest, "was preparing for what he imagined would be an inevitable race war."
Per WSJ, Teixeira's "lawyers argued Monday that Trump and his former aide, Walt "Nauta had access to far more sensitive national-security secrets that would be 'invaluable to any foreign adversary,' yet the government 'advocated for their release on personal recognizance and without restriction.'"
READ MORE: Alleged doc leaker was preparing for a violent 'race war': report
The attorneys further argued that both the former president and Nauta "possess extraordinary means to flee the United States with Trump's properties in several countries and his access to a private plane," adding, "Yet, the risk of flight posed by their knowledge of national security information, and their abnormal ability to flee, didn't even result in a request that either surrender their passport."
WSJ reports:
Some legal experts have warned that defendants would cite Trump's treatment in their own cases. Special counsel Jack Smith has been taking a careful approach to the unprecedented case against a former president and current presidential candidate. The government charged him with 37 felony counts but deferred to Trump's legal team in ways that are unusual compared with how the Justice Department treats most federal criminal defendants facing similar charges.
WSJ also notes, while Teixeira awaits trial in jail, he has been "ordered to remain there by a federal judge in Massachusetts who agreed with prosecutors that he posed a flight and national-security risk if released," while "Trump is traveling the country campaigning as the Republican front-runner for president."
Therefore, Teixeira's lawyers contend, "The disparate approach to pretrial release in these cases exposes that the government's argument for Mr. Teixeira's detention…is illusory."
READ MORE: Revealed: Leaker Jack Teixeira had more documents than originally thought and for a lot longer
Wall Street Journal's full report is available at this link.
