The FBI used billing records from an internet social media app to unmask US airman Jack Teixeira as a suspect over the leak of top-secret military documents, it has been revealed.
Court documents made public on Friday showed investigators identified the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, 21, using information on the Discord chat platform.
The leak is believed to have started on its servers, which are frequently used by people who play online games.
Classified information is said to range from briefing slides mapping out military positions in Ukraineto consideration of what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons.
Discord said it was cooperating with the bureau according to an FBI affidavit unsealed on Friday.
The document says the FBI interviewed an unnamed person familiar with Teixeira’s posts on Monday.
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Teixeira is said to be “at the heart” of a private channel called Thug Shaker Central, allegedly posting about guns, games, jokes and memes, people who say they chatted with him have claimed.
The anonymous person told the FBI a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information last December.
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Moment suspected files leaker arrested
Image: A court sketch of Jack Teixeira appearing before a federal judge in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday Pic: REUTERS
The affidavit suggests Teixeira had been typing out documents in his possession but started taking them home and photographing them after becoming “concerned he may be discovered making the transcriptions in the workplace”.
However, others said the user, nicknamed “the O.G” – also known as “original” or a way to describe someone who is the founder or influential in a group – had been posting documents he said were classified in the group for months.
The O.G started posting images of documents because they were annoyed others were not taking them seriously, it is alleged.
Image: Leaked Pentagon documents include a map that appears to detail the movement of Russian troops in Ukraine
Teixeira was detected on 6 April, according to the affidavit – the same day the New York Times first published a story about the classified documents being leaked.
He was arrested on Thursday by heavily armed tactical agents after a week-long investigation into the disclosure of the highly sensitive government records.
Image: A federal police vehicle parked outside the U.S District Court in Boston, Massachusetts Pic: AP
Image: Relatives of Teixeira leaving the federal courthouse after his appearance Pic: REUTERS
Family members sob during court appearance
The 21-year-old appeared before a federal magistrate judge at a court in Boston on Friday, charged with possessing unclassified documents pertaining to national security and possessing national defence materials.
Family members were seen crying and consoling each other before the defendant was brought into the court room.
Wearing a brown jumpsuit, he was ushered into the court by US marshals.
The judge ordered him to remain behind bars until a detention hearing on 19 April.
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Leaked documents ’embarrassing’ for US
The leaked documents have not been individually authenticated by officials.
A US Defence Department official said Teixeira could have had a higher level of security clearance due to being an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks.
The Pentagon will now conduct a review of its intelligence access, accountability and control procedures to prevent such a leak from happening again, said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
When Canada goes to the polls today, it might be the second election Donald Trump wins in six months.
The US president has transformed Canada’s political landscape, and the “Trump effect” looks like it will be the difference between winners and losers.
Tariffs, and his threat to annexe the country as the 51st state, have provoked a surge in Canadian nationalism, and it’s made a favourite of the candidate styled anti-Trump.
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‘Canada will win’
His ruling Liberal party had been written off as an electoral contender. Canadians had turned their back on the party after a decade in power under Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
The opposition Conservative Party, under the effective leadership of Pierre Poilievre, grew to a 25-point lead in the polls on the promise of change on the economy, crime and a chronic housing crisis.
However, his conservative politics are more aligned with the neighbour in the White House and, in Canada right now, it’s not a good look.
Image: Pierre Poilievre led the Conservatives to a 25-point lead before Trudeau stepped down. Pic: Reuters
In a stunning reversal of fortune, the Conservative Party’s lead vanished within weeks, as Canadians turned to Carney as the choice to take on Trump.
If he wins, the swing from Conservative to Liberal will be the biggest swing in the polls in recent democratic history.
Carney, 60, is the former governor of the Bank of Canada, as well as England. He replaced Mr Trudeau as Liberal Party leader and Canadian prime minister after his predecessor stepped down last month.
Polls indicate that Canadians see Carney as a stronger choice to negotiate with Donald Trump. He is a veteran of economic turmoil, having dealt with the 2008 financial crisis and Brexit.
Image: Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney after an English-language leaders’ debate in Montreal. Pic: Reuters
At a weekend news conference, Sky News asked the Canadian prime minister what lessons he’d learned from Brexit that could be applied to his dealings with Donald Trump.
He replied: “The lessons of Brexit are beginning to be applied. When you break off, or substantially rupture, trading relationships with your major trading partners, including the most important trading partner of the United States, you end up with slower growth, higher inflation, higher interest rates, volatility, weaker currency, a weaker economy.
“We’re in the early stages of that in the United States, and that’s one of the important things here. With respect to influencing the president, with respect to the dynamics of a negotiation, America’s going to get weaker as time goes on, we’re going to get stronger.”
Canada’s vote is as close as it gets to a single-issue election.
Carney’s position as favourite is reinforced consistently by the opinion polls, although the gap narrowed as election day approached.
The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.
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From Saturday: Trump meets Zelenskyy at funeral
Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainianleader was “calmer”.
“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.
“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.
However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.
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He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.
“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.
It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.
State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.
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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”
It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.
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From June 2024: Putin drives Kim around in luxury limo during state visit
The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.
At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.
The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.
Image: Iranian Red Crescent rescuers work at the site of the blast. Pic: Reuters
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The blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the US met for the third round of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.
Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.
Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.
Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.
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Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.
The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.
Image: Firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Pic: AP
According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.
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The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.
It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.
Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.
Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.