Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who caused an international uproar when he leaked highly classified documents about the war in Ukraine, used his court-martial Thursday to describe himself as a “proud patriot” who was only “exposing and correcting the lies perpetuated by the Biden administration.”

After pleading guilty to military charges of obstructing justice, the 23-year-old acknowledged he knew his actions were illegal but felt he needed to share the truth about how the Biden administration was misleading the American public about the war in Ukraine.

“If I saved even one American, Russian or Ukrainian life against this senseless money-grab war, my punishment was worth it,” he said, his politicized comments a stark contrast to the contrite apology he issued at his federal sentencing.

Teixeira suggested that he, like President Donald Trump, was a victim of a weaponized Department of Justice. Teixeira, who said he acted alone when he shared the documents in a geopolitical chat room on Discord, a social media platform popular with online gamers. He then called on Trump and members of his administration to “review my double prosecution and punishments with an eye towards reversing deep-state actions and showing truth no matter how embarrassing to the Biden administration.”

“I am comfortable in how history will remember my actions,” he added.

Judge Vicki Marcus agreed to the plea deal and sentenced Teixeira to a dishonorable discharge and no jail time. She rejected a prosecution request for a written reprimand and a demotion in rank for him.

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Mass., was already sentenced last year to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, following his arrest in the most consequential national security breach in years.

Military prosecutors said before the court-martial at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts that charges of disobeying orders and obstructing justice were appropriate given that obeying orders is the “absolute core” of the military.

Columbia protesters expelled, suspended

Columbia University has expelled or suspended some students who took over a campus building during pro-Palestinian protests last spring and temporarily revoked the diplomas of others who have since graduated, officials said Thursday.

The university said in a campus-wide email that a judicial board brought a range of sanctions against students who occupied Hamilton Hall last spring to protest the war in Gaza.

Columbia did not provide a breakdown of how many students were expelled, were suspended or had their degrees revoked, but it said the outcomes were based on an “evaluation of the severity of behaviors.”

The culmination of the monthslong investigative process comes as the university is reeling from the arrest of a well-known Palestinian campus activist, Mahmoud Khalil, by federal immigration authorities last Saturday in what President Donald Trump said would be the “first of many” such detentions. At the same time, the Trump administration has stripped the university of more than $400 million in federal funds over what it calls a failure to combat campus antisemitism.

Interim Syria president signs constitution

Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule while promising to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.

The nation’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew longtime President Bashar Assad in December.

Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.

While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of more than 50 years in the war-torn country, religious and ethnic minorities have been skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new authorities to assert control of their areas.

Woman’s death adds to Columbine High toll

The death of a woman who was partially paralyzed in the Columbine High School shooting has been ruled a homicide, raising the death toll of the 1999 attack to 14.

Anne Marie Hochhalter died Feb. 16 of sepsis — an extreme reaction to infection — and complications from her paralysis were a “significant contributing factor” in her death, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said in an autopsy report obtained Thursday. She was 43.

Twelve students and one teacher were shot and killed on April 20, 1999, in the attack on Columbine. The two student gunmen took their own lives.

Hochhalter’s brother, Nathan Hochhalter, said a pressure sore, a common problem for people living with paralysis, led to sepsis. He said he knew that his sister’s life would likely be shorter because of her paralysis but her death this early was unexpected.

“We didn’t think it would be this bad this soon,” he said.

Buttigieg won’t seek Senate seat in Mich.

Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, announced Thursday that he would not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat, a decision that opens the door to a 2028 presidential bid.

“My party has a deep and talented bench here in Michigan, and I am certain that we will nominate an outstanding candidate for each office,” he wrote on his Substack page, saying that “I have decided against” running in the state’s races for Senate and governor next year.

Buttigieg had been widely expected to decline to enter the governor’s race, but many Democrats had wondered if he would join the 2026 contest to succeed Sen. Gary Peters, a retiring Michigan Democrat.

His decision allows him to pivot more easily to the next contest for the White House — which will effectively kick off the day after the midterm elections, if not sooner. Buttigieg determined he could not run for Senate or governor and then for the White House, according to a person briefed on his deliberations, who added that the move put the former transportation secretary in prime position for the 2028 Democratic primary race.

Pope marks 12th year, still in Rome hospital

Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his pontificate Thursday in the hospital — the first pope to do so in modern church history — as he received increasingly positive medical news on his recovery, a cake and hundreds of messages wishing him well.

The pope spent the morning in physiotherapy, followed Lenten spiritual exercises of the Roman curia and stopped to pray at the chapel in the Gemelli Hospital, where he has been under treatment for a complex lung infection since Feb. 14, Vatican sources said.

In the afternoon, he received a cake from hospital personnel.

A chest X-ray has confirmed improvements in his condition, the Vatican said on Wednesday, just two days after doctors declared he’s no longer in imminent danger of death.

Indiana woman survives week in crashed car

An Indiana woman who was trapped in her car with severe leg injuries survived for nearly a week by sucking water from a sweatshirt that she dipped into a small creek, authorities said.

A man operating drainage equipment saw Brieonna Cassell’s car off a road Tuesday near the town of Brook, Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in a post on social media.

The man told his supervisor, who is also a fire chief, and they found Cassell inside the car, conscious and able to speak, according to the sheriff. Multiple agencies responded, and the 41-year-old Wheatfield woman was extricated and flown to a Chicago hospital, he said.

Cassell had been reported missing by family members days before she was found, the sheriff said. She had been trapped since last Thursday night when she fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road into a ditch, her father, Delmar Caldwell, told ABC News. Her vehicle wasn’t visible from the road.

Hackman estate seeks to shield police reports

A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports — especially photographs and police body-camera video — related to the recent deaths of Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home last month.

Authorities last week announced that Hackman died at age 95 of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease as much as a week after a rare, rodent-borne disease — hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — took the life of his 65-year-old wife.

Hackman’s pacemaker last showed signs of activity on Feb. 18, indicating an abnormal heart rhythm on the day he likely died. The couple’s bodies weren’t discovered until Feb. 26 when maintenance and security workers showed up at the Santa Fe home and alerted police — leaving a mystery for law enforcement and medical investigators to unravel.

Ariz. Rep. Grijalva dies of cancer at 77

Democratic U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, who championed environmental protection during his 12 terms in Congress, died Thursday of complications from cancer treatments, his office said.

Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and was the top Democrat on the committee until earlier this year. He had been absent from Congress as he underwent cancer treatment in recent months.

Grijalva’s office said in a statement, “From permanently protecting the Grand Canyon for future generations to strengthening the Affordable Care Act, his proudest moments in Congress have always been guided by community voices.”

Another Democratic House member, Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas, died last week from health issues.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement that Congress and the country had “lost a giant” with Grijalva’s death.

— News service reports