Moments before officials released the name of the suspect in their probe into top-secret intelligence leaks on an internet gaming forum, former Vice President Mike Pence said it was unbelievable that a state-level guardsman would have access to such information in the first place.
Pence told "The Story" he is concerned about the leak of the documents – which included movements of high-ranking officials, detailed Ukraine battlefield charts and potential trajectories of North Korean missiles directed at the U.S. – and called for the culprit to be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
"I'm just very concerned. And obviously we don't know among the documents that have appeared on the Internet, how many of them are real – The Pentagon seems to have made it clear that some of them are. Some of them may have been manufactured," he said.
"But again, I fall back to particularly now that we have a target here. I fall back on fundamental questions – and that is how could it how could a Massachusetts National Guardsman have access to this type of classified and sensitive information? And and how would they be able to release that information?"
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At the time of Pence's remarks the only confirmed information about the suspect was that he was in the Bay State's militia, while moments later federal officials identified him as Jack Teixera, who was taken into custody in North Dighton, Mass.
Pence noted the sensitivity of the disclosed information, which he added included data on Chinese hypersonic missiles being tested and context about other countries, notably in the Arab world, potentially providing support to Russia – all of which he said could also jeopardize American agents and methods in the field.
"I think there needs to be a full scale review of who has access to this type of classified information and how it's being handled."
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Pence also responded to his former boss, ex-President Donald Trump, who commented on the state of the U.S. military. Trump told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" the Pentagon "do[es]n't have any ammunition; we've given it to Ukraine [and] are not prepared to fight."
The former vice president broke with Trump in that context, saying the U.S. is the "arsenal of democracy" and that the Reagan Doctrine prescribes that while Ukraine is "not our war," if another country is willing to fight an American rival or enemy on their soil, they deserve the means to fight so that Americans don't have to battle them stateside.
"I'm proud of the historic increase in investments that we made in our national defense during the Trump-Pence administration. But the truth of the matter is, as the former president talks about planes and tanks that we helped build up in our military, we haven't sent one plane to the Ukrainian military. We haven't sent any tanks, even though the Biden administration promised to send 33 Abrams tanks back in January."
Pence underlined Ukrainian troops' "toughness" and concluded the U.S. should stand with Kyiv so that they can "reclaim their sovereignty."
Instead, Pence faulted President Joe Biden for being "slow in responding" to the Ukraine invasion.
