RATIONALE

Obama Defends Chelsea Manning Decision

“I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.”

President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended his decision to commute the bulk of Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence. Speaking during his final press conference, the outgoing president addressed concerns that releasing Manning after six years in prison might send the message that leaking military and diplomatic documents will be met with light punishment. “Let’s be clear,” he responded, “Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. So the notion that the average person who was thinking about disclosing vital, classified information would think that it goes unpunished, I don’t think would get that impression from the sentence [she] served.” He added: “Given that she went to trial; that due process was carried out; that she took responsibility for her crime; that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received; and that she had served a significant amount of time, it made sense to commute—and not pardon—her sentence.”