Chelsea Manning

President Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning's Prison Sentence

... trove of military secrets to Wiki Leaks. The former intelligence analyst's prison sentence has been shortened to expire on May 17, 2017, according to a statement from the White House. This commutation was issued along with 208 others, including one for Oscar Lopez-Rivera, who was part of a militant group that fought for Puerto Rican independence. Obama also pardoned 64 individuals, including retired Gen. James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to federal authorities. Manning, a transgender woman formerly known as Bradley, had requested clemency from Obama and said her life was at risk in an all-male prison, as we reported. She has admitted to "releasing more than 700,000 documents, including battlefield ...

Pressure Increases For Obama To Grant Chelsea Manning Clemency

... of classified files to Wikileaks. She’s also a transgender woman, originally serving under the name Bradley Manning while in the Army, before announcing that she prefers to go by Chelsea. Now, to show support for Manning’s release, thousands of people have taken to social media sharing images under  #Hugs For Chelsea. “As President Obama’s days in office wind down, people from all walks of life are standing in solidarity with Chelsea and urging the President to save her before it is too late,” said Chase Strangio, Chelsea’s ACLU attorney. “After years of suffering in prison under horrific conditions including long stretches of solitary confinement, the denial of health care for gender dysphoria and arbitrary punishments including for attempting suicide, Chelsea needs to be set free before this treatment results in her death.”. The ACLU is joined by dozens of civil rights organization in supporting Manning’s release, as ...

Obama Shortens Sentence Of Manning, Who Gave Secrets To Wikileaks

... revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman. The White House said her sentence would end on May 17 this year. Manning, who twice tried to kill herself last year and has struggled to cope as a transgender woman in the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, men's military prison, accepted responsibility for leaking the material - a factor that fed into Obama's decision, a White House official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said Obama's decision was rooted in Manning's sentence being longer than sentences given to others who had committed comparable crimes. Obama, who leaves office on Friday and is scheduled to give his final news conference on Wednesday, is expected to discuss his decision then. Wiki Leaks also published emails in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 presidential election that U. S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian intelligence agencies hacked the Democratic National Committee and ...

Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

... she will be freed on May 17 th." @chasestrangio also said…. — Katie Couric (@katiecouric) January 17, 2017. 3/3 …“If you had told me a month ago President Obama was even considering this, I wouldn't have believed it.". — Katie Couric (@katiecouric) January 17, 2017. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said while Manning’s leak was “damaging to national security,” the former U. S. Army soldier was found guilty and “acknowledged wrongdoing.” Earnest contrasted her plea with that of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who similarly requested a pardon from President Obama. “Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,” Earnest told the Times. “Mr. Snowden fled into the arms of an adversary, and has sought refuge in a country that most ...

Top Republicans Blast Obama's Decision To Commute Chelsea Manning's Sentence

... 6:02 pm, Tuesday, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other top Republicans released statements Tuesday blasting President Barack Obama's decision to commute the majority of Wiki Leaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning's prison sentence. Manning was convicted of violating the Espionage Act, among other charges, in 2013 after she stole secret documents from a computer system she had access to while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq and leaked them to Wiki Leaks in 2010. "This is just outrageous," Ryan said in a statement. "Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets. President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their ...

Obama Commutes Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

... moral and ethical questions at stake — as an endorsement of Wiki Leaks. One theory, based on this currently circulating Wiki Leaks tweet, might be that commuting Manning’s sentence is the carrot needed to accomplish the long hoped-for extradition of Assange to the United States. If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of Do J case __link__/MZU 30 Slf GK. — Wiki Leaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017. But it seems like a bad idea to base decisions on the word of someone like Julian Assange. Indeed, it’s just as likely that Obama is commuting Manning’s sentence because the harsh conditions under which she’s been imprisoned, including prolonged solitary confinement and 18 months without hormone treatment, outstrip her crime, and because the incoming administration — as friendly as its figurehead has been to Wiki Leaks — would likely have worsened those conditions. (Among other things, Trump has promised to review the military’s transgender policy.) Whether you think it’s basic moral decency or some sophisticated 13 th-dimensional chess move aimed at rattling Trump or dislodging Wiki Leaks, certainly ...

Along With Chelsea Manning, Obama Granted Hundreds Of Federal Drug Offenders Early Freedom

... reassignment surgery to treat her gender dysphoria, will now be released in May. Oscar López Rivera , who was part of a militant group fighting for Puerto Rican independence and has been in prison since 1981, was also granted clemency. His clemency case had been pushed by South African anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, according to NPR. Rivera is 74-years-old. In another case, Obama commuted the death sentence of an intellectually disabled man to life in prison. The man, Arboleda Ortiz, was convicted of aiding an abetting murder in relation of a drug trafficking crime. “We commend President Obama for making history by continuing to grant hundreds of clemencies,” Jessica Jackson Sloan, the national director of #cut 50, said in a statement. “For far too long, efforts to fight crime have missed their mark, breaking up families and harming the human potential in our most vulnerable communities. Thanks to President Obama’s clemency initiative, more than one thousand people who were ...

Along With Chelsea Manning, Here Are The Other People Who Received Pardons And Commutations From Obama

... 2010). Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on May 17, 2017. • Timmy Nathan Johnson — Caruthersville, Mo. Offense: Conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a substance containing methamphetamine; money laundering; felon in possession of a firearm; unlawful drug use in possession of a firearm; Eastern District of Missouri. Sentence: 360 months’ imprisonment; 10 years’ supervised release (Oct. 8, 2009). Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to a term of 240 months’ imprisonment, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment. • Timothy Terell Johnson — Chicago. Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base; Southern District of Iowa. Sentence: Life imprisonment; 10 years supervised release (June 16, 2008). Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to a term of 240 months’ imprisonment, conditioned upon enrollment in residential drug treatment. • Tony Johnson — Evansville, Ind. Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute in excess of 50 ...

President Obama Grants Clemency To Chelsea Manning & Oscar López Rivera

... in order to show the American public the "true costs of war.". See our coverage of Oscar López Rivera , who was convicted in 1981 on federal charges of seditious conspiracy and conspiring to oppose U. S. authority over Puerto Rico by force. He was also accused of being a member of the FALN, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, which claimed responsibility for more than a hundred bombings to call attention to the colonial case of Puerto Rico. In 1999, President Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of the FALN, but López refused to accept the deal because it did not include two fellow activists who have since been released. López Rivera has said the charges against him were strictly political. "I think the fact that I was charged with seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States speaks for itself. But the charge in reference to Puerto Ricans has always been used for political purposes. It goes back to 1936. The first time that a group of Puerto Ricans was put in prison was by using the seditious ...

Obama Commutes Sentence Of Ex-army Analyst Chelsea Manning

... lawyers say, for an act of whistleblowing and longer than some people even convicted of murder in the military system. Now with today's action, she could be out by May. MCEVERS: There's always a flurry of pardons and clemencies as presidents prepare to leave office. Another one in this round is James Cartwright, as we said. Remind us about his case. JOHNSON: So he's often called Obama's favorite general. Cartwright pleaded guilty late last year to false-statements charges for allegedly leaking information and lying to the FBI about it. He was talking to reporters about the Stuxnet computer worm, Kelly. You'll remember that whole hack attempted to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program. MCEVERS: Right. JOHNSON: But it also spread outside the country and got detected. Prosecutors wanted Cartwright to serve two years in prison. His sentencing was set for later this month. Now it won't happen at all. That's because he's got a full pardon. And Cartwright said in a statement today a pardon means he can continue his work to support his country after being a public servant more ...