(DCWatchdog.com) – The suspected leaker of classified US Defense Department records, Jack Teixeira, must not be treated as a whistleblower despite some Republicans’ calls to that end, GOP US Senator Linsey Graham has warned.
Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air Force National Guardsman, has been arrested and charged over the leaks involving potentially sensitive information about Ukraine’s defense against the ongoing military aggression of Putin’s Russia.
“There is no justification for this,” South Carolina US Senator Graham told the ABC News program “This Week.”
“And for any member of Congress to suggest it’s OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger,” he added, as cited by Newsmax.
Graham’s comments likely targeted Republican US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who suggested Teixeira could be deemed a whistleblower.
After the young Massachusetts Air Force National Guardsman was arrested at gunpoint at his mother’s home last Thursday, Greene took to Twitter to express her stance.
She insisted that President Joe Biden’s administration quickly arrested and charged a person opposed to its “narratives of choice and political ideology.”
“Jack Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene commented.
“And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more. 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? (sic)” she speculated.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member, and a US Air Force veteran, scolded her.
He insisted nobody should be defending the leaker of US government secrets because his leak exposed the Biden administration.
“What they’re suggesting will destroy America’s ability to defend itself, that it’s OK to release classified information based on your political views; that the ends justify the means. It’s not OK,” the GOP US senator said.
He argued the leaker should be punished to the furthest extent of the law, even if that came from the Biden administration that is weaponizing justice against its political opposition.
“If you’re a member of the military intelligence community and you disagree with American policy, and you think you’re going to be OK when it comes to leaking classified information, you’re going to go to jail. It’s one of the most irresponsible statements you could make,” Graham declared.
“The ability for America to gather intelligence from human resources on the ground has been compromised. We can’t have a chaotic intelligence-gathering system. If you give us information and it’s disclosed, you can lose your life. The way we gather intelligence protects our country,” he added.
“There are military members serving today from Georgia and other places who are less safe because of what this airman did,” the Republican US senator concluded.
Who do you side with when it comes to the young man who allegedly leaked classified documents? Lindsey Graham or Marjorie Taylor Greene? Share your opinion by emailing [email protected]. Thank you.
Pentagon Docs: The suspected and charged leaker of sensitive Pentagon intelligence has been hailed by some as a whistleblower, but Sen. Lindsey Graham is warning against that political rhetoric. https://t.co/8drWzN7Thn
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 16, 2023
