Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's sentence

Agree with it or not, this apparently is what they were thinking:

"Asked about the two clemency applications on Friday, the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, discussed the “pretty stark difference” between Ms. Manning’s case for mercy and Mr. Snowden’s. While their offenses were similar, he said, there were “some important differences.”

“Chelsea Manning is somebody who went through the military criminal justice process, was exposed to due process, was found guilty, was sentenced for her crimes, and she acknowledged wrongdoing,” he said. “Mr. Snowden fled into the arms of an adversary and has sought refuge in a country that most recently made a concerted effort to undermine confidence in our democracy.”

He also noted that while the documents Ms. Manning provided to WikiLeaks were “damaging to national security,” the ones Mr. Snowden disclosed were “far more serious and far more dangerous.” (None of the documents Ms. Manning disclosed were classified above the merely “secret” level.)"

It's worth noting that the administration went pretty hard after Manning, and this is a commutation, not a pardon.

 

Although the information leaked was less impactful overall, I'm surprised that Manning is getting commuted and not Snowden. Snowden was much more precise with what was released, and it served to draw attention to specific issues. Manning's leaks seemed to be more random from a fit of rage, and had the potential to do a lot a damage; we just got lucky that nothing too bad was in the data released.

The consensus at the time seemed to be that Snowden had done the right thing overall, though it would clearly be political suicide to show any support for it, and the only real way to let him off the hook would be something like this. I guess we still have a couple days left, but it seems unlikely that he will get any sort of commuting/pardon/leniency

 

He's never been tried; he fled the country. That's a major difference and one not likely to be overlooked by Obama or any president.

I agree with Joe Wilson (husband of Valerie Plame) who said Snowden was neither hero nor villain. He was perhaps more precise than Manning, but not THAT precise, and could well have compromised undercover agents. On the other hand, he did draw attention to macro-issues we should know. But he should have been more precise.

No president likes leaks. My guess is that the first leak that hurts or embarrasses Trump will trigger a tantrum of epic proportions. And probably firing someone who had nothing to do with it.