CNN —The suspect in the leak of classified Pentagon documents posted on social media has been charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials. According to charging documents, Teixeira held a top secret security clearance and allegedly began posting information about the documents online around December 2022, and photos of documents in January. Investigators narrowed in on the potential members of the chat group with evidence collected following the discovery of the classified documents online. Four Discord users active in a different Discord chatroom where the documents later appeared told CNN the documents began circulating on Thug Shaker. Several former high school classmates of Teixeira’s told CNN Thursday that he had a fascination with the military, guns and war.

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