Chelsea Manning Supporters Launch Last-Ditch Call for Clemency

With mere weeks left under an Obama presidency, advocates have launched what they describe as a last ditch effort to save national security whistleblower Chelsea Manning before Donald Trump and his team of pro-torture, anti-LGBTQ war hawks ascend to power.

With a protest outside the White House on Saturday and a vigil outside Fort Leavenworth prison, where Manning is being held, on Sunday, advocates are amplifying their call for a presidential pardon for Manning.

Specifically, supporters are asking President Barack Obama to commute Manning’s sentence to time served, pointing to the fact that Manning “has already served more time in prison than any individual in United States history who disclosed information in the public interest,” though “[h]er disclosures harmed no one.”

Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence, formally submitted a petition earlier this week asking for a reduced sentence.

“Chelsea Manning has been incarcerated since May 2010, including in unlawful, unusually harsh solitary confinement for 11 months before her trial,” reads a new White House petition.