OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene wasn’t in the mood to take criticism from Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized her over remarks she made regarding the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who leaked highly classified intelligence on Ukraine and China.
In an interview on Sunday, Graham called her apparent praise for the leaker “irresponsible” and that unauthorized releases of sensitive military intelligence that may support a personal political view nonetheless “puts America in serious danger.”
“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. If you’re a member of the military intelligence community and you disagree with American policy, and you think you’re going to be okay when it comes to leaking classified information, you’re going to go to jail. It’s one of the most irresponsible statements she could make,” Graham told ABC’s This Week.
Graham proceeded to talk about how the leak had “compromised” the human resources involved in gathering intelligence and emphasized that the United States could not afford to have “a chaotic intelligence gathering system.”
“There is no justification for this, 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.
WATCH:
Earlier, Greene, a Georgia Republican, tweeted: “Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. 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?”
Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar.
That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.
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…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 13, 2023
Greene appeared to respond to Graham’s criticism with a photo of him that was digitally altered to show him holding a can of Bud Light with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney’s face on it.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 16, 2023
The Department of Defense has accused Teixeira of leaking documents that contain “sensitive and highly-classified material.” He was charged Friday with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents.
He made his first court appearance last week.
Fox News reported: “Teixeira, wearing handcuffs and khaki prison jumpsuit, was read the charges shortly after 10 a.m. local time during an appearance in federal court in Boston. He did not enter a plea and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing set for Wednesday, April 19, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. The appearance at the federal courthouse comes after Teixeira was taken into custody by the FBI less than 24 hours ago at his home in North Dighton, Massachusetts.”
During the hearing, his dad was heard shouting, “I love you, Jack!” to which the suspect responded, “I love you Dad.”
BREAKING: Jack Teixeira’s parents declined to comment on the charges against their son as they exited federal court. @wbz pic.twitter.com/bTHxBROWmK
— Anna Meiler (@AnnaMeiler) April 14, 2023
“The leaked classified documents, 53 of which have been reviewed by CNN, included a wide range of highly classified information, including eavesdropping on key allies and adversaries and blunt assessments on the state of the Ukraine war,” the network reported last week.
Included in the leaked documents were national security assessments involving Chinese spying.
The documents show that U.S. intelligence agencies have evidence of at least four additional Chinese spy balloons that were monitoring the country, each of which was equipped with sophisticated sensors and antenna technology, according to a detailed report by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
As noted by the Daily Mail, the sightings appear to have been during the Biden administration.
According to the documents, a U.S. carrier strike group was passed over by one balloon, while another balloon, referred to as Bulger-21 by U.S. officials, traveled around the Earth from December 2021 to May 2022. The documents also mention a third balloon named Accardo-21 and suggest that a fourth balloon crashed in the South China Sea.
“The documents also identify the balloon that crossed the continental U.S. in January and February before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina was code-named Killeen-23,” the UK news outlet reported.
“The most recent documents reveal that the U.S. government was yet to identify the purpose of sensors and antennas on the craft more than a week after it was shot down Feb 4,” the Daily Mail reported.
“The downed balloon was also revealed to carry sophisticated reconnaissance capabilities, including radar that could see at night and penetrate clouds, topsoil and other thin materials, according to one document produced by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on Feb. 15,” the report continued.
