Yesterday in one of his last acts as president, Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of army leaker Chelsea Manning, and today he defended the decision at a press conference.
Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. It has been my view that given she went to trial that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received, and that she had served such a significant amount of time that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence. I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.
The president’s order did not pardon Manning but it did reduce her sentence to seven years. She is scheduled to be released in May.