Judge orders Chelsea Manning's release from jail in Virginia
A federal judge has ordered that Chelsea Manning be released from jail in Virginia.
The former US army analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of documents and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks in 2010 had been held since May last year, when she was taken back into custody for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the pro-transparency organisation.
A hearing had been due on Friday. Ordering Manning’s release, Judge Anthony J Trenga wrote: “The court finds Ms Manning’s appearance before the grand jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer serves any coercive purpose.”
Trenga rejected a request by Manning to cancel fines imposed for her refusal to testify, ordering instead that a judgment be entered against Manning for $256,000.
On Wednesday, representatives for Manning said she had attempted suicide at the Alexandria adult detention center.
In a statement, Manning’s representatives said she “has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself.
“Her actions today evidence the strength of her convictions, as well as the profound harm she continues to suffer as a result of her ‘civil’ confinement.”
Dana Lawhorne, the Alexandria sheriff, said the incident “was handled appropriately by our professional staff and Ms Manning is safe”.
No further details were released. Manning served six years in military custody for her part in the 2010 WikiLeaks disclosure, which was made via media outlets including the Guardian. Barack Obama commuted the rest of her 35-year sentence shortly before the end of his time in office.
Manning attempted suicide twice while held on the original charge, during which time she was held in solitary confinement, mounted a hunger strike and completed gender reassignment.
After her release she mounted a run for Senate in Maryland, a failure which she told the Guardian left her “closer and closer to being on the edge of really deep, dark depression”.
She also said she had been “exhausted” when, in May 2018, she tweeted a picture apparently showing her standing on a ledge several storeys above the ground.
Manning was first jailed for refusing to testify in March that year. She was released and then taken back into custody, telling the judge she would “rather starve to death” than appear before the grand jury.
In February this year she petitioned for her release, comparing her experience with the Trump administration’s defiance of congressional subpoenas.
Manning wrote that she had been “separated from my loved ones, deprived of sunlight, and could not even attend my mother’s funeral”.
She added: “It is easier to endure these hardships now than to cooperate
to win back some comfort, and live the rest of my life knowing that I acted out of self-interest and not principle.”
An extradition hearing for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, continues in London. In the US, Assange
is charged with violating the Espionage Act.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or emailjo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org
help the president’s re-election efforts – knocking on doors, donating a few dollars, attending a meetup and, most importantly, voting on election day.”
In total, Politico added, the Trump campaign has identified more than 1.4 million potential voters from their events since inauguration day 2017, including about 126,000 who did not vote in the last four elections.
Cancelling rallies could therefore cut off this crucial data supply. Among those who fear the political consequences is the rightwing radio talkshow host Rush Limbaugh, who this week pushed a conspiracy theory that Democrats want to stop the rallies because some of their own members have been attending them.
“This is why they want these rallies stopped,” he said. “This is why – it’s not because of public safety, not because of public health. These people – because as you point out, they’re not making an effort to shut down every other opportunity for people to congregate.”
He added: “It makes perfect sense from their standpoint. If you can’t beat Trump and if you want to stop the appearance of excitement about the Trump campaign, then stop the rallies. And if you’re really worried that so many people attending rallies are actually Democrats, then you’ve really gotta shut ’em down.”
The 2020 presidential election has already been buffeted by unexpected events. Senators who had planned to campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire found themselves spending the day at Trump’s impeachment trial. But the coronavirus promises disruption on a grander scale for campaigns and voters.
The MSNBC network host Chris Hayes said on Tuesday: “You think people are going to be going to the polls in Georgia in two weeks? In big public gatherings? That’s an open question right now.” Fellow presenter Nicolle Wallace wondered: “Will there be conventions? Will there be debates? What will voting look like? Everything is up in the air.”
The “Catholics for Trump” event appears to be a test of whether the public will accept campaign events. Asked at a White House briefing on Tuesday whether the Trump campaign would continue to hold rallies, Vice-President Mike Pence said: “That’ll be a decision that’s made literally on a day-to-day basis.”
Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, cancelled a get-out-the-vote event planned for Thursday in Florida, which will hold primary contests next week along with Arizona, Illinois and Ohio. The former vice-president plans instead to deliver an address in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday regarding the US coronavirus response.
This could give him an opportunity to appear presidential while, critics say, Trump flounders. Rallies and other public events, meanwhile, are not seen as Biden’s strongpoint, so cancelling those may shield him from scrutiny and the risk of making gaffes.
But analysts in Washington played down the significance of rallies to final election outcome. Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in the governance studies programme at the Brookings Institution thinktank, said: “I just don’t think this will matter one way or another. It’s true believers that go to Trump rallies and they’re not going to desert him.
“We are talking about an electorate of 100 million or more. Whether you have 5,000 or 10,000 people at a rally makes no difference. There are probably 10 people in the United States who don’t know what they think of Trump and they’re so out of it they might not even bother to vote.”
John Zogby, a Democratic pollster, acknowledged: “The campaign rallies have been very important to him and he always scheduled them strategically. They give him a boost. He’s a showman and this is Trump at his best.”
But he added: “He has other effective ways of communicating and he will use them. His support base will move along with these changes. The campaign are very sophisticated in their use of data and being able to adjust.”