Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning
Transgender private leaked military secrets
President Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the Army private serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified military secrets to WikiLeaks, the White House said Tuesday.
Manning will be released May 17 after serving nearly seven years for stealing and releasing secret cables that divulged U.S. military and diplomatic operations.
The soldier, who was convicted under the name of Bradley Manning and identifies as a woman, attracted widespread support from privacy advocates and transgender activists who complained that she couldn’t get the medical help she needed in the military prison in Leavenworth, Kan.
The action brought immediate rebuke from Republicans on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said it set “a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes.”
“I don’t understand why the president would feel special compassion for someone who endangered the lives of our troops, diplomats, intelligence officers, and allies,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. “We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr.”
Obama granted full pardons in a number of high-profile cases, including former general James Cartwright, convicted last October of lying to the FBI in a leak investigation. The former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was accused of lying about his role in disclosing classified information about the use of a computer virus to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.