President Obama commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday in an 11th-hour surprise, allowing the convicted leaker of US Army secrets to leave prison nearly three decades early.
The move came just three days before he hands Donald Trump the keys to the White House.
Manning, a transgender ex-Army intelligence analyst formerly known as Bradley Manning, is serving a 35-year sentence for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified government and military documents to the website WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors charged that Manning’s leaks put lives at risk in Iraq and Afghanistan and became fodder for al Qaeda, which referenced the leaked material in a propaganda video.
Officials said Manning’s leaks also had a chilling effect on American foreign relations. Some foreign government officials were reluctant to speak freely in private with US diplomats for two years after they were published, starting in 2010.
Obama had earlier slammed WikiLeaks, founded by Julian Assange, for publishing emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta.
Manning pleaded with Obama to commute her sentence to time served.
“I am not asking for a pardon on my conviction,” she wrote in a November statement.
“I understand that the various collateral consequences of the court-martial conviction will stay on my record forever. The sole relief I am asking for is to be released from military prison after serving six years of confinement as a person who did not intend to harm the interests of the United States or harm any service members,” she added.
She is expected to be released May 17 after serving seven years.
Manning began the transition from male to female in the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. The high-profile procedure caused headaches for the Department of Defense, which did not have policies in place to handle transsexuals.
Despite the damage she did to the US, Manning’s gender transition surgery was paid for by American taxpayers.
Obama’s move enraged national security hawks on Capitol Hill.
“This is just outrageous,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets. President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes.”
An Army vet in Congress said he was flabbergasted.
“When I was leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Private Manning was undermining us by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“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. We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr,” Cotton added.
The move could have widespread consequences — as Assange had agreed to do time in prison if the president acted.
“If Obama grants Manning clemency, Assange will agree to US prison in exchange — despite its clear unlawfulness,” WikiLeaks tweeted on Sept. 15, 2016.
And just last Thursday, WikiLeaks pledged, “If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case.”
Assange did not address his prior promises after the White House’s announcement, but WikiLeaks claimed “VICTORY” in a Tuesday evening tweet.
Manning was an intelligence analyst in Iraq and has acknowledged leaking the documents, but has said it was done to raise public awareness about the tragic effects of the war on civilians.
She attempted suicide twice last year, according to her lawyers, citing her alleged harsh treatment at Leavenworth.
Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Manning, said the president’s action would “quite literally save Chelsea’s life.”
“We are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many,” Strangio said in a statement.
The US Army declined to comment, as did the Trump transition team.
Obama also used his constitutional power Tuesday to pardon Gen. James Cartwright, the former vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI by denying he was the source of classified information leaked to two reporters. He was facing a two-year prison sentence.
Manning’s commutation and Cartwright’s pardon were just two of many actions Obama took on his way out the door.
In all, he pardoned 64 individuals and commuted the sentences of 209 others on Tuesday alone.
Most were convicted of drug-related crimes.
Obama’s last press conference is scheduled for Wednesday, when he will likely be questioned by the press about his eleventh-hour actions.
Manning, who has spent more than six years behind bars, was convicted in military court in 2013 of six violations of the Espionage Act and 14 other offenses for leaking more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video to WikiLeaks.
Last month, the president granted 231 pardons and commutations.