Chelsea Manning, the transgender Army whistleblower who served seven years for leaking material to Wikileaks, has sparked controversy for attending a pro-Trump event.

The 30-year-old, who recently announced she was running for the US Senate in her home state of Maryland, was photographed at the far right party in New York which branded itself “A Night For Freedom”.

Manning has now insisted she attended the Manhattan event on Saturday to gather intelligence on the so-called “alt right” – a political movement widely accused of racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny.

The 750-guest gala, which was thrown by firebrand conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich at a Hell’s Kitchen nightclub, was attended by men in Trump-style red ties and female dancers in American flag leotards.

Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Show all 12 1 /12 Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence torbakhopper/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Garry Knight/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence People hold signs calling for the release of imprisoned wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning while marching in a gay pride parade in San Francisco, California June 28, 2015. Manning has appealed to an Army court to overturn her court-martial conviction, a court filing released on Thursday said. Reuters Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Daily Chalkupy/Flickr Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Around twenty activists associated with the Chelsea Manning support group rally in front of the White House in Washington DC, Sunday May 11, 2014. Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Abigail Edward holds up a sign advocating the release of WikiLeaks whistle blower Chelsea Manning along the Gay Pride parade route in San Francisco, California on Sunday, June, 26, 2016. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Demonstration for Chelsea Manning in London, England, United Kingdom. Chelsea Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning) is a United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified but sensitive military and diplomatic documents. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army. Manning is a trans woman who, in a statement the day after sentencing, said she had felt female since childhood, wanted to be known as Chelsea, and desired to begin hormone replacement therapy. From early life and through much of her Army life, Manning was known as Bradley; she was diagnosed with gender identity disorder while in the Army. Mike Kemp/Getty Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Chelsea M Queer Friends/Twitter Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Instagram Protesters urge Obama to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence Jil Love Revolution/Instagram

Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst who spent seven years in prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, shocked both guests and social media users after she made an appearance at the event but left before the evening's speeches ended.

She later shared a photo of herself doing a thumbs-down gesture on Twitter announcing she “crashed the fascist/white supremacist hate brigade party. All selfies were denied.”

She added: “Learned in prison that the best way to confront your enemies is face-to-face in their space.”

“I f***ing crashed!” Manning told a New York Observer reporter at the cloak room.

In 2013, Manning was convicted of the largest leak of classified documents in US history while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Last year, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence to time served and she was released from a military prison in Kansas.

Manning, who came out as transgender a day after her 2013 sentencing, was fiercely criticised for attending the event on social media. Critics accused her of building links with the far right and argued the event was at loggerheads with the political views she has espoused since she was released in May last year.

“What were you thinking putting yourself in the position you did? Do you understand how the situation reads to the people who agree with you and trusted you?” one critic said.

But Glenn Greenwald, a columnist at The Intercept, leapt to her defence and said while people could legitimately question why she was there it was wrong to assume she is affiliated with the far right.

“Questioning her is 100 per cent valid, but someone with her history - she went to prison for seven years to expose US war crimes, withstood abuse the UN said was "inhumane," and then defended trans rights *while in a military prison* - deserves the benefit of the doubt that she's not a fascist,” he said.

Manning came under heavier fire after journalist Yashar Ali unearthed a photo from December which featured Manning and other leading far right internet personalities.

The image included Mr Cernovich and Jack Posobiec – who both helped propagate the Pizzagate conspiracy theory which falsely alleged a Washington pizzeria was the home of a child sex abuse ring that included people such as Hillary Clinton and her then campaign chief John Podesta. The baseless and spurious theory led to a man firing a gun at the restaurant in 2016.

According to the Guardian, Manning got in touch with and apologised for her “very bad judgment” to Women’s March organiser Linda Sarsour. This tallies with Buzzfeed’s Joe Bernstein claiming that Manning “was on the verge of tears” while voicing her regret to Ms Sarsour.

The event, which Mr Cernovich described as a “gathering of patriots and political dissidents who are bored with mainstream political events”, included a number of prominent members of the far right. Gavin McInnes, the co-founder of Vice and founder of far right men’s organisation Proud Boys, was one of the evening’s headline acts.