President commutes Manning sentence
President Obama has commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army private convicted of leaking thousands of classified reports to WikiLeaks in an incident that officials said compromised intelligence sources while embarrassing the United States diplomatically — so the transgender soldier will serve only six years of a 35-year sentence.
“This is just outrageous,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement, calling it a “dangerous precedent.”
In all, Obama commuted sentences for 209 individuals and issued 64 pardons. There was no pardon for Edward Snowden, the former intelligence officer who fled to Russia after leaking a vast trove of documents about U.S. surveillance systems at home and abroad. He has been charged with espionage, but has not been tried or convicted, and is considered a fugitive.
Manning, formerly known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in August 2013 after being convicted in military court of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic records, cables and videos to WikiLeaks in 2010.
Manning will now be released from military custody on May 17, according to senior administration officials.
The officials said each application for clemency was received by the Department of Justice, reviewed by the White House counsel’s office and approved by Obama.
“The deep concerns the intelligence community has expressed about WikiLeaks did not have any bearing on the president’s decision to grant a commutation for Chelsea Manning,” one official said. “Chelsea Manning accepted responsibility for crimes she committed, expressed remorse for committing these crimes.”
The official said Manning’s sentence was longer than those given to others convicted of “comparable” crimes.
“The president continues to believe her actions were criminal and … harmed our national security,” the official said.
But Manning has served six years in prison and Obama “believes that is sufficient and has decided to commute her sentence.”