In a last minute wave of commutations, pardons and clemency declarations, President Barack Obama on Tuesday commuted Chelsea Manning’s 35-year prison sentence.
The decision will allow Manning to go free on May 17, 2017, and comes just days after the New York Times published a sympathetic piece about Manning’s unhappy life as a transgender woman in a Federal men’s prison.
Manning, who at the time of trial was known as Bradley, was convicted on and serving time for several violations of the US Espionage Act, five counts of theft, two counts of computer fraud and a variety of military infractions. She plead guilty to leaking more than 450,000 battlefield reports and 250,000 confidential State Department cables to Wikileaks, including footage of an Apache helicopter bombing what appear to be civilians in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Manning says she leaked the files, at the time, to promote “world wide discussion, debate and reform.” At trial, Manning testified that, at the time of the leak, she had been “in a mental and emotional crisis” as she struggled with her own transgenderism.
The Administration had hinted for some time that it would take action on Manning’s plea for commutation. During her time in prison, Manning began the medical transition from male to female, and organizations like the ACLU quickly rushed to her aid, claiming that Manning was at risk in the all-male facility in which she was housed.
Manning’s cause expanded to include many of the loudest left-leaning voices, turning what was once an espionage case into a cause celebre. Then came the New York Times’ interview with Manning, hitting just as President Obama was probably making his commutation decision, in which she described her lonely life in solitary confinement.
“I need help,” Manning wrote in a personal statement accompanying her lawyers’ official petition to the White House. “I am living through a cycle of anxiety, anger, hopelessness, loss and depression. I cannot focus. I cannot sleep. I attempted to take my own life.”
It’s not clear whether Manning’s transition, which came at a time when transgender rights are at the forefront of progressive causes, helped raise her profile to the president. But many other leakers, including Edward Snowden, who remains in Russia after leaking details about confidential NSA programs, appear to have been passed over.
(Also on Tuesday, President Obama pardoned retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright who was facing prison time for lying to the FBI about discussing StuxNet with reporters.)
The Obama Administration told NPR that Manning’s case was bolstered by the fact that she had already navigated the Federal criminal justice system, not because she was transgender.