Demonstrators protest the conviction of Bradley Manning (now known as Chelsea Manning) in 2013 in front of the White House. | Getty Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's sentence Prison terms of more than 200 drug prisoners were cut short as a retired general wins a last-minute pardon for lying in leak probe.

President Barack Obama has commuted the sentence of Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, a move that cuts decades off her 35-year sentence for leaking classified information and schedules her for release in May.

Obama also issued a pardon to retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who recently pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying in the course of a leak investigation.


Aides said the relatively few last-minute, high-profile clemency grants from Obama — issued as he cut short the sentences of a much larger set of more than 200 relatively unknown drug prisoners serving long prison terms — signaled the president's desire to avoid the unseemly cloud that descended on President Bill Clinton after he issued a slew of controversial pardons as he left office 16 years ago.

"We're aware of the history you alluded to," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told a reporter Tuesday, while not directly mentioning the Clinton episode. "The president has been judicious about using this authority in a way that he believes is consistent with American interests and the pursuit of justice."

Obama advisers said the drug-related commutations he issued Tuesday brought the tally to nearly 1,400. They also said more such commutations are expected before Obama leaves office at noon on Friday.

Aides indicated, however, that they expect no more clemency grants in prominent cases. Earnest also appeared to all but dismiss the possibility of a pardon for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Yet, the fact that Obama issued grants of mercy to Manning and Cartwright was viewed by some as a tacit acknowledgment of excess in the unprecedented series of leak-related prosecutions launched during Obama's eight years — a record that far outstripped all previous presidents combined.

Manning’s supporters argued her 3 ½-decade sentence was wildly out of proportion to those received by other leakers in national-security-related cases. They also argued that she, as a transgender woman, suffered from poor treatment in the military.

However, Obama's move to cut short Manning's sentence drew a sharply negative reaction from Republicans. They noted that Manning gave hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military reports to WikiLeaks, which published them online and through news outlets. Officials said the disclosures endangered foreign officials who cooperated with U.S. diplomats and soldiers.

Manning, who was arrested over the leaks in 2010, has been in custody since. At a court-martial in 2013, the Army private was convicted on a slew of serious charges related to the leaks but acquitted of the most serious charge: aiding the enemy.

"When I was leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Private Manning was undermining us by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement. "I don't understand why the president would feel special compassion for someone who endangered the lives of our troops, diplomats, intelligence officers, and allies. We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr."

"This is just outrageous. Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets," said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). "President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes.”

“I’m stunned," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said. "President Obama’s commutation of Chelsea Manning’s sentence is a grave mistake that I fear will encourage further acts of espionage and undermine military discipline. It also devalues the courage of real whistle-blowers who have used proper channels to hold our government accountable."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Obama's actions undermined the drive for legislation to dial back mandatory minimum sentences and offer more compassion to convicts.

"On the larger issue of criminal justice reform, the president really is undermining our political capital by granting clemency at an unprecedented rate. People say 'Well, why should we change the sentencing rules and criminal justice reform if the president can just do it with the flick of his pen?' It’s his right, he has the authority to do that, but I don’t think it’s wise," Cornyn said.

Critics also noted that as a military prisoner Manning would have been eligible for parole, which was abolished in the federal civilian system 30 years ago.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Obama acted to cut short Manning's sentence because it was disproportionate.

"These crimes are serious. Chelsea Manning acknowledged responsibility for committing those crimes," the official said. "The president is commuting her sentence to time served plus 120 days in order to ensure that the sentence that she served is comparable to the sentence handed down to others who committed comparable crimes. ...The president believed those six years [served] behind bars was sufficient punishment."

While the official repeatedly said Manning acknowledged her guilt, she continues to pursue an appeal before an Army court. That appeal could continue since Obama did not vacate Manning's conviction. The official had no comment on whether Manning's struggles in prison as a transgender woman affected Obama's decision.

The White House official also said Obama's decision on Manning was in no respect a blessing of WikiLeaks and should not undermine U.S. resolve in addressing the Russian government's alleged use of that outlet to influence the recent presidential election.

"The deep concern the United States intelligence community has expressed about WikiLeaks did not have any bearing on the president's decision," the official said, adding that what Manning gave the group was unrelated to the recent election-related postings of hacked emails from Democratic officials and organizations. "The cases are entirely different," the official said.

Snowden, who has not formally sought a pardon for himself, hailed Obama's decision to set Manning free come May.

"Let it be said here in earnest, with good heart: Thanks, Obama," Snowden tweeted Tuesday.

Lawyers for Manning also welcomed the commutation for their client, who has attempted suicide at least twice while in custody.

"Ms. Manning is the longest serving whistleblower in the history of the United States. Her 35-year sentence for disclosing information that served the public interest and never caused harm to the United States was always excessive, and we’re delighted that justice is being served in the form of this commutation," attorneys Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward said in a joint statement.

Cartwright, who unlike Manning did receive an outright pardon, was scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31 and faced a maximum of five years in prison. He pleaded guilty in October to a single felony charge of making false statements in the course of an FBI investigation into leaks about the U.S. use of the Stuxnet virus to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

The same White House official told reporters that Obama was persuaded Cartwright had not intended to harm national security when he spoke with reporters from The New York Times and Newsweek.

"Obviously, when the president is making clemency decisions, motive matters," the official said. "Gen. Cartwright's motive was different than most people who are facing charges of leaking classified information to a journalist."

However, Cartwright was not charged with leaking, but with lying to the FBI. Prosecutors have said in court filings that he could have faced an Espionage Act charge of disclosing top-secret information, but both sides agreed to the guilty plea to the false-statement charge to avert a trial.

The White House official who spoke with reporters did not address the issue of the false statements Cartwright admitted making to the FBI.

"I want to thank President Obama for his action. With the greatest pride, I have served my country as a member of the military for more than forty years. This action allows me to continue that work as a private citizen. I love this country and believe it to be the greatest nation on earth," Cartwright said in a statement.

"The President's decision is wise and just, and it achieves the right result. It allows General Cartwright to continue his life's work — to serve, protect and defend the nation he loves," Cartwright attorney Greg Craig added.

The pardon for Cartwright did not elicit the wave of congressional condemnation that greeted the commutation for Manning, but Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) expressed disagreement with both moves by Obama.

"While every case is different and should be judged that way, I disagree with the President’s decisions today. Leaking classified information is a serious breach of national security protocols. I believe it would have been more prudent of the President to allow the criminal justice process to govern these cases," King said in a statement.

Obama, who has expressed increasing unease about capital punishment without outright opposing it, also took two people off of federal death row.

Obama commuted the sentence of Dwight Loving to life without parole. As an Army private, Loving was sentenced to die in 1989 for killing two taxi drivers near where he was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. Until Tuesday, he was one of six people — along with Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hassan — on military death row, which hasn’t actually executed anyone since 1961.

A Colombian citizen, Arboleda A. Ortiz, was given a federal death sentence after being convicted, with two other Colombians, of killing a drug dealer in 1998. Prior to Obama commuting Ortiz’s sentence to life without parole on Tuesday, he was the only one facing execution for that crime: One of the men has died of natural causes, and the other received a life sentence.

But the Obama administration takes special pride in the clemencies granted to people who faced life in prison for drug crimes. Of the 209 commutations granted Tuesday, 109 reduced life sentences, bringing the total life sentences commuted to 504.

No federal executions have been carried out during Obama's time as president, ostensibly due to litigation over death penalty procedures and to a shortage of one of the drugs typically used in the federal lethal-injection process.

In October 2016, Maria Pagan (center) joins a rally across from the White House calling for the release of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera. | AP Photo

One of the unusual commutations Obama issued Tuesday went to a Puerto Rican nationalist, Oscar Lopez-Rivera, convicted in the 1980s of seditious conspiracy and plotting to bomb government buildings in Chicago.

Lopez-Rivera was offered clemency in 1999 by President Bill Clinton but refused it. Lopez-Rivera will be released in May.

While most of Obama's clemency grants have gone to drug prisoners, Obama has sometimes used his pardon and commutation powers to advance his administration's foreign policy initiatives. Last January, he granted four pardons and three commutations sought by Iran in connection with a deal for the release of Americans held by the Iranian government. And in 2014, as part of efforts to warm relations with Cuba, he granted commutations to three Cuban spies.

One of the men was serving a life term for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the Cuban government's shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue airplanes over that country in 1996.

Of the 64 pardons Obama issued Tuesday, nearly all went to Americans who long ago finished serving their time.

There were two well-known individuals on the pardon list.

One was Ian Schrager, a hotelier who was a co-founder of the renowned Studio 54 nightclub. He was convicted of filing a false tax return and sentenced in 1980 to 20 months in prison.

The other was Willie McCovey, a baseball Hall of Famer who had been convicted in 1996 of filing a false tax return and put on probation for two years. He and another baseball great, Duke Snider, had failed to report money earned from signing autographs at memorabilia shows. Snider died in 2011.

Seung Min Kim, Bianca Padró Ocasio and Austin Wright contributed to this report.