Judge delays hearing for suspect in classified document leak

(BOSTON) — The federal magistrate judge overseeing Jack Teixeira’s case granted his request to delay a detention hearing that was scheduled for Wednesday.

Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking national defense information online, sought to postpone the hearing so his attorneys could have more time to address arguments for keeping him in federal custody, according to a court filing.

Teixeira, 21, has been held since his arrest last week on two charges related to the posting online of classified defense information.

The defense’s request to delay came hours before the hearing was scheduled to begin in Boston federal court.

He has been held in custody since his arrest after the FBI said he caused “serious damage to the national security of the United States.” According to a criminal complaint unsealed last week after his arrest, Teixeira “improperly and unlawfully retained and transmitted national defense information to people not authorized to receive it.”

He began posting classified information on Discord in December, according to the complaint.

At first the material appeared as paragraphs of text. Then, when Teixeira allegedly became concerned he could be discovered copying material at work, “he began taking the documents to his residence and photographing them,” the complaint said.

Teixeira has yet to enter a plea to the charges.

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