Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Thursday slammed Georgia Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene over her comments defending Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday for allegedly leaking secret Pentagon files.
“McCarthy’s top lieutenant is siding with one of the biggest traitors America has seen,” Swalwell wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk,” he added. “But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors.”
Swalwell’s remarks come in response to Greene’s own comments on the arrest of Teixeira.
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene wrote in a Twitter post. “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?”
Teixeira, 21, was taken into custody by FBI agents on Thursday, DOJ officials said.
“Today the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The FBI said that it had “aggressively pursued investigative leads” over the past week and that the 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.”
Teixeira’s arrest comes after a large number of apparent Pentagon documents appeared online in recent days, with some including confidential information on U.S. and NATO support to Ukraine amid the sovereign country’s ongoing war with Russia and others including information apparently collected through spying on allies such as Israel and South Korea.
Read Greene’s tweet and Swalwell’s response below:
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
McCarthy’s top lieutenant is siding with one of the biggest traitors America has seen. I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk. But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors. https://t.co/4RZ0TpECmo
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) April 13, 2023