President Obama commuted the vast majority of the remaining prison sentence of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, The New York Times reports this afternoon. Manning, who was known as Bradley at the time of her conviction, shared information with Wikileaks in 2010 that, once published, became one of the largest intelligence leaks in American history. The revelations about U.S. diplomatic and military activity worldwide proved to be a breakthrough for transparency activists and an almighty headache for the Obama administration. In taking action, the president ensured Manning will be released this coming May, rather than in the year 2045.
Manning was one of 209 commutations announced by the White House today. Obama has now offered more commutations than any other president in history, a fact the administration trumpeted in the press release:
Today, 273 individuals learned that the President has given them a second chance. With today's 209 grants of commutation, the President has now commuted the sentences of 1,385 individuals – the most grants of commutation issued by any President in this nation's history. President Obama's 1,385 commutation grants – which includes 504 life sentences – is also more than the total number of commutations issued by the past 12 presidents combined. And with today's 64 pardons, the President has now granted a total of 212 pardons.
Obama has often made it a priority to spare non-violent drug offenders from the fates rendered to them under overly harsh sentencing guidelines, but the leniency shown towards Manning represents a different proposition entirely.
Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder who is under indictment in both Sweden and the United States, promised through the Twitter account of his organization to submit to extradition if the Obama administration pardoned Manning:
The announcement comes one day after the nation of Oman announced it had agreed to accept 10 inmates from the American detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Days earlier, U.S. officials said 19 of the remaining 55 detainees at Guantanamo were eligible for release. At this stage, it appears 45 inmates will remain at the prison when President Obama leaves office, down from the 242 when he assumed power.
