Chelsea Manning to Obama: ‘Thank You for Giving Me a Chance’

FREEDOM

Updated Apr. 11, 2017 4:12PM EDT / Published Jan. 19, 2017 11:14AM EST

Handout/Reuters

A Twitter account linked to Chelsea Manning on Thursday directly addressed President Obama with a post thanking him for commuting the bulk of her prison sentence, effectively setting her free in May 2017. The White House announced Tuesday that after six years in prison for leaking military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, Manning had sufficiently served out her punishment and would have the rest of the 35-year sentence commuted. “Thank you @BarackObama for giving me a chance. =,)” the Thursday morning tweet read. The former Army intelligence analyst had twice attempted suicide in prison in 2016 amid a rough battle with the U.S. Department of Defense over whether it would pay for her gender-reassignment surgery while in prison.

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Chelsea Manning to Obama: ‘Thank You for Giving Me a Chance’

Handout/Reuters