First Thing: Lindsey Graham calls fellow Republican ‘irresponsible’ for defending Pentagon leaker

Conspiracy theorist and election denier Marjorie Taylor Greene says national guardsman Jack Teixeira has been treated unfairly. Plus, New Jersey to celebrate Bruce Springsteen Day

Good morning.

Senator Lindsey Graham condemned his fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene as “terribly irresponsible” yesterday after the far-right congresswoman defended the air national guardsman charged with leaking Pentagon intelligence documents.

What did Greene say? “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,” Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, said on Twitter. “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?”

Does anyone else agree with her? Yes. Other rightwing figures have also defended Teixeira, with Tucker Carlson, the influential Fox News host, praising him as someone who “told Americans what’s actually happening in Ukraine”.

What is Dominion hoping to get from the case? Dominion is asking a Delaware jury to award $1.6bn in damages because it says Fox knowingly or recklessly disregarded the truth when it broadcast outlandish lies about its voting equipment. US law sets a very high bar to win a defamation lawsuit and cases rarely go to trial. Dominion’s case, experts say, is unusually strong.