US Air Force prosecutors on Tuesday began presenting evidence to a military hearing officer who will decide whether to recommend a trial by court-martial for Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard accused of leaking a massive trove of classified military documents.
Teixeira, 22, appeared in uniform at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts for the first hearing to address the military charges, which were filed after he pleaded guilty in March to separate charges by the US Department of Justice.
Teixeira, who was arrested in April 2023, has been accused of carrying out one of the most serious US national security breaches in years. The leaked documents held highly classified information on allies and adversaries, with details ranging from troop movements in Ukraine to Israel's Mossad spy agency.
Air Force prosecutors on Tuesday called no witnesses to support their case against Teixeira and instead relied only on documents to support charges filed against him in April that he obstructed justice and failed to obey a lawful order.
Defense lawyers had urged Lieutenant Colonel Michael Raming, an officer tasked with reviewing that evidence, to delay the hearing, citing a lack of immediate access to certain classified material related to the charges. They also asked that he not consider as evidence Teixeira's own guilty plea in March.