Obama Pardons Gen. Cartwright, Commutes Chelsea Manning’s Sentence

By MDL on January 20, 2017

During his last week in presidential office, Barack Obama pardoned Gen. James Cartwright and granted clemency to Chelsea Manning, two high-profile figures involved leaking classified U.S. information in recent years.

Gen. Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pleaded guilty to making false statements during an investigation, claiming he did not leak information to journalists about the Stuxnet cyberattacks on an Iran nuclear power plant. Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence officer, has been serving a 35-year sentence after being convicted of leaking 700, 000 classified U.S. government and military documents to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, had offered via a Twitter post to agree to U.S. extradition and face espionage charges if Obama granted clemency to Manning. Assange, however, has since backed away from his offer, claiming he wanted Manning to be released immediately and not in May 2017. WikiLeaks also played a role in the 2016 US election hacks by releasing approximately 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails allegedly stolen by Russian hackers.

Obama did not extend a pardon to Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked thousands of classified documents. Snowden, who was granted asylum by Russia, has not formally applied for clemency.

Sources:

AP. https://apnews.com/079a2e17fb6c453ca3cacb52f83e8ec7/Obama-commutes-most-of-Chelsea-Manning’s-sentence 

GovExec. http://www.govexec.com/defense/2017/01/obama-commuted-sentence-military-leaker-chelsea-manning/134646/?oref=GovExecTCO 

The Verge. http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/17/14303148/obama-pardon-general-james-cartwright-stuxnet 

Twitter, Wikileaks post, 12 Jan 2017. https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819630102787059713 

AP. https://www.apnews.com/2cd0494e205246a8a7c2ca6021a77c24/WikiLeaks’-Julian-Assange-retreats-from-extradition-pledge