Accused Pentagon leaker Teixeira pleads not guilty to federal charges

Accused Pentagon leaker Jack Teixiera on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to six federal charges stemming from one of the largest leaks of classified intelligence in U.S. history.

He is next due back in court on Aug. 9, CNN reported. Teixeira is currently in custody and will remain incarcerated until his trial on charges of willful retention and transmission of classified defense materials.

The Air National Guardsman allegedly posted hundreds of pages of documents to a Discord server over the course of several months. Many of those materials related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and included U.S. military assessments of the strengths and shortcomings of both participant militaries. Discord is an online group messaging app that caters to gamers.

Teixeira was formally arraigned on Wednesday, though prosecutors announced charges last week.

His attorneys have argued that Teixeira never intended or expected the classified materials to go beyond his circle within the Discord server and contested the government's attempts to paint him as a national security threat.

Court filings have indicated that Teixeira was repeatedly warned about mishandling classified materials and that his superiors were aware of his continued efforts to access such documents.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.