Obama commutes sentence of former U.S. soldier convicted of espionage
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In his final days in office, President Barack Hussein Obama made history today by granting more commutations of sentences than any other American president.
Among Obama’s most recent sentence commutations was that of Chelsea (aka Bradley Edward) Manning.
Manning was a United States Army private convicted by a court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents, according to Wikipedia and other sources.
According to www.militarytimes.com, Manning received “gender re-assignment” surgery while in prison.
According to the Obama administration:
“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. 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.
“These 273 individuals learned that our nation is a forgiving nation, where hard work and a commitment to rehabilitation can lead to a second chance, and where wrongs from the past will not deprive an individual of the opportunity to move forward. Today, 273 individuals – like President Obama’s 1,324 clemency recipients before them – learned that our president has found them deserving of a second chance.”
Among Obama’s most recent sentence commutations was that of Chelsea (aka Bradley Edward) Manning.
Manning was a United States Army private convicted by a court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents, according to Wikipedia and other sources.
According to www.militarytimes.com, Manning received “gender re-assignment” surgery while in prison.
According to the Obama administration:
“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. 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.
“These 273 individuals learned that our nation is a forgiving nation, where hard work and a commitment to rehabilitation can lead to a second chance, and where wrongs from the past will not deprive an individual of the opportunity to move forward. Today, 273 individuals – like President Obama’s 1,324 clemency recipients before them – learned that our president has found them deserving of a second chance.”