Chelsea Manning: ‘I’m figuring things out’

KANSAS CITY, MO .• Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the Army soldier who was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for giving classified materials to WikiLeaks, said Wednesday that she’s excited about what lies ahead, just hours after she walked free after serving seven years behind bars.

“I’m figuring things out right now — which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me,” 29- year- old Manning said in an emailed statement hours after being released from a lockup at Kansas’ Fort Leavenworth.

Manning later took to social networking, posting photos of her lunch — “So, ( I’m) already enjoying my first hot, greasy pizza,” she declared of the slice of pepperoni — and her feet in tennis shoes, captioning that her “First steps of freedom!!”

Manning’ s immediate plans, including living arrangements, remained unclear. Manning tweeted after then- president Barack Obama granted her clemency in January that she planned to move to Maryland, where she has an aunt. Manning originally comes from Crescent, Okla.

“I am looking forward to so much,” she said in Wednesday’s statement.

Manning, who is transgender and was known as Bradley Manning before she transitioned in prison, was convicted in 2013 of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud. She was acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, has acknowledged leaking the materials, which included battlefield video. She said she wanted to expose what she considered to be the U.S. military’s disregard of the effects of war on civilians and that she released information that she didn’t believe would harm the U.S.

Critics said the leaks laid bare some of the nation’s most- sensitive secrets and endangered information sources, prompting the State Department to help some of those people move to protect their safety.

Several ambassadors were recalled, expelled or reassigned because of embarrassing disclosures.

Manning, who was arrested in 2010, filed a transgender rights lawsuit in prison and attempted suicide twice last year, according to her lawyers. Obama’s decision to commute Manning’s sentence to about seven years, including the time she spent locked up before being convicted, drew strong criticism from members of Congress and others, with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan calling the move “just outrageous.”

The Army said Tuesday that Manning would remain on active duty in a special, unpaid status that will legally entitle her to military medical care. An Army spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Jennifer Johnson, said Manning will be on “excess leave” — meaning she is considered to be off- duty — while her court- martial conviction is under appellate review