US President Joe Biden wants to quickly clarify the background to the latest secret service scandal. He instructed his government to find out why the alleged traitor had access to the information at all, Biden said on Friday on the sidelines of his multi-day visit to Ireland for information from journalists traveling with him.
In addition, the full extent of the incident should be extensively investigated. He doesn’t think it will take long, Biden said, according to the reports.
The alleged author of one of the biggest US secret service scandals faces several years in prison. The 21-year-old military worker named Jack Teixeira was brought before a judge for the first time on Friday in Boston, Massachusetts.
The alleged originator of the intelligence scandal
Teixeira is suspected of having published secret documents in a closed online chat room. From there, they spread to other areas of the Internet until authorities and the media became aware of them.
The National Guard’s IT specialist are charged with unauthorized removal, storage and transfer of classified and national defense information. If convicted, he could face several years behind bars.
Biden on his possible run for president in 2024
Biden has been President of the United States since 2021. This year he will be 81 years old. He wants to announce his decision on a possible candidacy for the presidential election next year “relatively soon”.
“I’ve already made that calculation,” Biden said ahead of his departure from Ireland on Friday. His three-day tour of Northern Ireland and Ireland gave him optimism “about what can be done,” the US President continued.
Speaking to reporters, Biden said: “I told you, my plan is to run again.” The US President had already announced his intention to run for the presidency again at the end of February. However, he did not want to officially announce his candidacy.
He had “other things to do first before I go fully into the election campaign,” Biden said at the time. He ended his visit to Ireland on Friday by addressing some 27,000 people outside St Muredach’s Cathedral in Ballina, one of his ancestral hometowns.
Irish and Americans are united by an optimistic vision, Biden said: “Even in times of darkness and despair, hope has carried us into a brighter future, with greater freedom, greater dignity and greater opportunity.”
Biden’s visit to his ancestral lands was marked by personal and emotional encounters. On Friday he also met Priest Frank O’Grady, who eight years ago had given Biden’s son Beau last rites before his death at Walter Reed Hospital near Washington. The President said it was “amazing” to speak to O’Grady. The meeting had only happened at short notice and was more of a coincidence. “It seemed like a sign,” Biden said. (dpa/AFP)
