Former US president, Donald Trump, has entered a plea of not guilty to longstanding accusations of mishandling sensitive files during a hearing at a federal court in Miami, Florida.
This marks the first time a federal criminal indictment has been filed against a sitting or former US president.
During the court proceedings, Trump maintained a stern and composed demeanor, crossing his arms while dressed in a dark suit and red tie. This court appearance is his second this year.
Following the hearing, the Republican politician made his way to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he addressed his supporters.
Against a backdrop of American flags, Mr Trump, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, struck a defiant tone and told the assembled crowd he had “every right” to hold the classified documents, but “hadn’t had a chance to go through all the boxes”.
He said he followed the law and went on to list series of unsubstantiated claims as well as grievances against President Joe Biden and his former rival Hillary Clinton.
Earlier in the day before leaving Miami, Mr Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, thanked the city for “such a warm welcome on such a sad day for our country”.
Just hours before, in a 13th-floor room of a federal courthouse in downtown Miami, a sombre, subdued Mr Trump looked on while his lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on 37 counts of illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to get them back.
“We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” the attorney, Todd Blanche, told the judge.
Accompanying the former president, Mr. Walt Nauta, a close aide charged with six criminal counts, sat at the same table during the court proceedings.
On the other side of the courtroom, the entire prosecution team, including special counsel Jack Smith, who announced the indictment last week, were present.
Despite turning 77 on Wednesday, Mr. Trump was granted unrestricted domestic and international travel privileges by Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman, as prosecutors did not consider him a flight risk.
However, the former president is prohibited from discussing the case with Mr. Nauta.
After the hearing, Mr. Trump expressed a thumbs-up gesture to his supporters as his motorcade departed from the courthouse. In one mildly chaotic moment of an otherwise peaceful day, a protester dressed in a prison jumpsuit briefly interrupted the motorcade’s path before being swiftly moved away by security personnel.
Mr. Trump and his security detail subsequently headed to Versailles, a popular Cuban restaurant located in Miami’s Little Havana, where a crowd of supporters awaited him. Many lined up to take photos with the former president, and he appeared to participate in a prayer with some patrons. The visit coincided with a rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” sung in his honor.
Before the hearing, court officials said Mr Trump would not have a mugshot taken but would be digitally fingerprinted and asked to submit a DNA sample by swab.
A trial date has not yet been set, though the case is still earmarked for Aileen Cannon, a federal district judge in South Florida who was appointed by Mr Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Thursday that the FBI had detained a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the internet posting of classified documents.
The US authorities conducted a quick search for the identification of the leaker who uploaded secret papers to a social media site that is well-liked by video gamers before making the arrest of Jack Teixeira, 21.
Teixeira was arrested in Massachusetts without incident, Garland said, and will be arraigned in federal court there. “This investigation is ongoing. We will share more information at the appropriate time,” the attorney general said, declining to answer questions.
Teixeira will first appear in court on Friday in Boston, according to the US attorney’s office there.
The FBI said in a statement that it took Teixeira into custody “at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts, for his alleged involvement in leaking classified U.S. government and military documents.”
“The FBI is continuing to conduct authorizedlaw enforcement activity at the residence,” the agency said. “Since late last week the FBI has aggressively pursued investigative leads, and today’s arrest exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray our country’s trust and put our national security at risk.”
The leaked documents posted to social media, some of which have been obtained by CNN, included detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including on the state of the war in Ukraine and the challenges Kyiv and Moscow face as the war appears stuck in a stalemate.
Multiple US officials told CNN that Teixeira is believed to be the leader of the group where a trove of classified documents had been posted.
The search for the suspect began with thousands of people who had access to the documents, but investigators were able to quickly narrow the search to potential members of the chat group with evidence collected in the days immediately following the discovery of classified documents online by US officials.
While there’s a large number of people who had access to the documents, investigators were able to home in on a small number for closer scrutiny thanks to the forensic trail left by the person who posted the documents.
Teixeira was under surveillance for at least a couple of days prior to his arrest by the FBI on Thursday, according to a US government source familiar with the case.
Earlier Thursday, President Joe Biden appeared to suggest that the US government was close to identifying the leaker. Biden was then briefed on the arrest in between his speech to parliament and his departure for a banquet dinner in his honor at Dublin Castle, according to a US official. He was at the hotel for roughly 90 minutes in between the two events.
Biden has been regularly briefed on the investigation, officials said, as well as the efforts by his top officials to engage with allies who have been identified within, or unsettled by, the content of the leaked information, according to one of the officials. Behind the scenes, it has been a reality that has loomed over a deeply personal and important foreign trip for Biden, one official acknowledged.
Jack Teixeira is taken into custody Thursday in Dighton, Massachusetts.WBZ
Joined Air National Guard in 2019
The Air Force released service details for Teixeira, an Airman 1st Class.
Teixeira is an enlisted airman at the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to details from his service record released by the Air Force Thursday. He joined the service in September 2019 and his official job is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman. According to the Air Force, Cyber Transport Systems specialists are tasked with making sure the service’s “vast, global communications network” is “operating properly.”
On Wednesday, The Washington Post first reported that the person behind the leak worked on a military base and posted sensitive national security secrets in an online group of acquaintances. The leaker was described in the Post story as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a social media platform popular with video gamers – that shared a love of guns and military gear, according to a friend of the alleged leaker the Post interviewed who was also part of the group.
Several former high school classmates of Teixeira’s told CNN Thursday that he had a fascination with the military, guns and war. He would sometimes wear camouflage to school, carried a “dictionary-sized book on guns,” and behaved in a way that made some fellow students feel uneasy.
“A lot of people were wary of him,” said Brooke Cleathero, who attended middle school and high school with Teixeira. “He was more of a loner, and having a fascination with war and guns made him off-putting to a lot of people.”
John Powell, who also attended middle school and high school with Teixeira, said he recalled him as a pleasant and quiet kid who was sometimes picked on. “He didn’t have many friends,” he said.
A photo of Jack Teixeira taken from Instagram.From Instagram
Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, according to public records. He attended Dighton-Rehoboth High School where he graduated in 2020, according to the superintendent of the regional school district.
Powell recalled Teixeira occasionally toting around a textbook on military vehicles – tanks, planes and submarines – and having a fascination with anything “military related” from an early age.
“He was dead set on joining some branch of the military, even as a kid,” he said.
Other students, who asked not to be identified, said they detected a more menacing vibe from Teixeira, who some recalled making comments they perceived as racist or mumbling derogatory things about people under his breath.
One student recalled him showing up for school wearing a shirt with an AR-15 on it the day after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.
Teixeira didn’t behave in a manner that rose to the level where “people felt the need to report him,” another former classmate said, but “he made me nervous.”
The same student said she took his fascination with the military as a form of American nationalism, and was therefore surprised by the allegations against him. “I didn’t think he would be capable of doing something like this,” she said.
On Thursday, Biden said he was concerned about the fact the leaks happened, but not necessarily about their content.
“I’m not concerned about the leak. I’m concerned that it happened, but there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of any consequence.”
Pentagon tightening access to classified intelligence
The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following the leak.
Some US officials who used to receive the briefing materials daily have stopped receiving them in recent days, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the Pentagon’s Joint Staff continues to whittle down its distribution lists.
The Joint Staff, which comprises theDefense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership that advises the president, began examining its distribution lists immediately after learning of the trove of leaked classified documents – many of which had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as the J2.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that he is directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to review intelligence access, following the arrest of the Air National Guardsman.
“As Secretary of Defense, I will also not hesitate to take any additional measures necessary to safeguard our nation’s secrets,” Austin said. “Accordingly, I am directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to conduct a review of our intelligence access, accountability and control procedures within the Department to inform our efforts to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder confirmed Thursday that the Defense Department is taking steps to tighten the community of people who receive classified intelligence.
Ryder said the Pentagon continues “to review a variety of factors as it relates to safeguarding classified materials. This includes examining and updating distribution lists, assessing how and where intelligence products are shared, and a variety of other steps.”
Ryder also emphasized that there are already “stringent guidelines” in place to safeguard classified intelligence.
“This was a deliberate criminal act,” he said, “a violation of those guidelines.”
The criminal investigation is being led by the FBI’s Washington field office, including a team of counterintelligence investigators experienced in hunting leaks.
Those investigators are also working with Pentagon officials on the damage assessment, which would become part of the evidence to be used in any potential prosecution that results.
When asked how Discord has cooperated with theFBI investigation, a spokesperson told CNN that they “have cooperated with officials and remain committed to doing so.”
Revelations from recent findings in classified documents that were released online, the US believes that the UN Secretary General is overly accommodating to Russian interests. The records imply that Washington has been paying close attention to Antonio Guterres.
In several documents, Mr Guterres and his deputy are mentioned in private communications.
It is the most recent from a leak of top-secret papers, whose cause US officials are trying to determine.
The documents contain candid observations from Mr Guterres about the war in Ukraine and a number of African leaders.
One leaked document focuses on the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July following fears of a global food crisis.
It suggests that Mr Guterres was so keen to preserve the deal that he was willing to accommodate Russia’s interests.
“Guterres emphasised his efforts to improve Russia’s ability to export,” the document says, “even if that involves sanctioned Russian entities or individuals.”
His actions in February, according to the assessment, were “undermining broader efforts to hold Moscow accountable for its actions in Ukraine.”
Saying he wouldn’t comment on leaked documents, one senior official said the UN was “driven by the need to mitigate the impact of the war on the world’s poorest.”
“That means doing what we can to drive down the price of food,” he added, “and to ensure that fertiliser is accessible to those countries that need it the most.”
Russia has frequently complained that its own exports of grain and fertiliser are being adversely affected by international sanctions, and has threatened at least twice to suspend co-operation with the grain deal unless its concerns are addressed.
Russian grain and fertilizer are not subject to international sanctions, but Russia says it has experienced difficulties with securing shipping and insurance.
UN officials are clearly unhappy with America’s interpretation of Mr Guterres’ efforts. And they say that Mr Guterres has made his opposition to Russia’s war very clear.
Another document from mid-February describes a frank conversation between Mr Guterres and his deputy, Amina Mohammed.
In it, Mr Guterres expresses “dismay” at a call from the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, for Europe to produce more weapons and ammunition as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The two also talk about a recent summit of African leaders. Amina Mohammed says that Kenya’s president, William Ruto, is “ruthless” and that she “doesn’t trust him.”
It’s well known that America is among a number of nations which routinely spy on the UN – but when the products of that espionage come to light, it’s highly embarrassing and, for the world’s leading diplomat, potentially damaging.
There were few clues as to who leaked the files until Wednesday, when the Washington Post reported it was a gun enthusiast in his 20s who worked on a military base.
It said he shared the classified information to a small group of men and boys who share a “love of guns, military gear and God” on Discord – a social media platform popular with gamers.
The BBC has been unable to verify the report, which was based on interviews with two members of the chat group.
The screenshots of the documents themselves, which have since been shared on several Discord discussion channels, have been verified by the BBC.
Discord said on Wednesday that it was co-operating with law enforcement in its investigation into the leak.
US national security spokesperson John Kirby told the BBC that the US government was scrambling to get to the bottom of the leaks.
“This was a series of dangerous leaks. We don’t know who’s responsible, we don’t know why. And we are assessing the national security implications, and right now there is also a criminal investigation,” he said on Wednesday.
“We want to get to the bottom of this, we want to find out who did this and why.”
Washington was “reaching out actively” to allies to answer questions they have about the leaks, so they know “how seriously we are taking this”, he added.
Mr Kirby said that while the authenticity of some of the documents had yet to be established, they “certainly appear to have come from various source of intelligence across the government”.
