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by Project Willow » Thu May 28, 2015 6:26 pm
by seemslikeadream » Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:17 am
So Is Obummer Going To Pardon Manning Or What?
Postby 8bitagent » Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:46 am
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40305
by seemslikeadream » Wed May 17, 2017 9:01 am
Chelsea Manning To Walk Free After Serving 7 Years Of A 35-Year Sentence
May 17, 20177:22 AM ET
BILL CHAPPELL
DOREEN MCCALLISTER
Chelsea Manning is scheduled to be released from Fort Leavenworth, a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kans., on Wednesday. In January, then-President Obama commuted Manning's 35-year prison sentence. She had requested clemency.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Pvt. Chelsea Manning will leave a military prison in Kansas and return to civilian life Wednesday, seven years after she was taken into custody for what is seen as the largest leak of classified data in U.S. history.
The 35-year prison sentence Manning received as punishment for that crime was described as unprecedented when it was handed down. Before he left office, President Obama shortened the sentence to seven years.
In court, Manning had pleaded guilty to leaking secret information — but she was acquitted of the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, in July of 2013.
On the morning of Manning's scheduled release, a fundraising campaign for her post-release expenses met its goal of raising $150,000. The fund was set up by her lawyer, Chase Strangio of the ACLU. Separately, musician Michael Stipe has led the release of a benefit album whose proceeds will go to the former soldier.
Military personnel at the prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where Manning has been held have not released many details about her release that's scheduled for sometime Wednesday. Manning's support team at the American Civil Liberties Union is also providing few details, citing her need for privacy and time to adjust. They've said she plans to live in Maryland, where she has family.
Among the records Manning has admitted to passing on to WikiLeaks was a video showing a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed 11 men and 750,000 classified documents that contained military and diplomatic dispatches.
Rights groups have sharply criticized the way the government handled Manning's case; they also faulted the official response to what Amnesty International USA calls "possible war crimes committed by the military" that are depicted in the records she released.
Enlarge this image
U.S. Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, seen here in an undated handout photo, will be released from a military prison on Wednesday.
AP
"Chelsea's treatment is especially galling given that nobody has been held accountable for the alleged crimes that she brought to light," says Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA. "While we celebrate her freedom, we will continue to call for an independent investigation into the potential human rights violations she exposed, and for protections to be put in place to ensure whistleblowers like Chelsea are never again subjected to such appalling treatment."
Arrested in 2010, Manning had been serving in Iraq and was known as Bradley Manning. After her conviction, she announced she was a transgender woman and changed her name to Chelsea. Manning is walking out of prison early because then-President Obama commuted her sentence in January.
Steven Nelson, of U.S. News and World Report, talked to NPR's All Things Considered on Sunday:
"Part of the reason that the White House justified granting her clemency was because it was so much longer than other recent leak sentences. In a lot of the cases, people plead guilty and get maybe a year in prison. But 35 years really shocked people. And the seven years that had already been served was seen as enough by the Obama White House."
Nelson also told host Mary Louise Kelly that there's a difference between Manning's case and that of Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, who leaked information.
"Manning as a 22-year-old wanted to spark a broad worldwide discussion of various injustices she perceived in scandals, whereas Snowden who had access to more highly classified documents had a very specific policy debate he wanted to start about surveillance. And he left the country, rather than be arrested.
"When the Obama administration was preparing to grant Manning clemency, they drew the distinction that Manning had faced trial, that Manning had expressed some degree of contrition. Snowden, of course, is totally unrepentant, feels he did the right thing. So that's a real distinction. He hasn't been tried, he's not sorry, and Manning was both."
While in prison, Manning has had to transition as a woman in a male military prison. She has tried to commit suicide twice.
Bust since her impending release was announced, Manning's outlook has gotten brighter. Last week she released a statement saying:
"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea. I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine. Now, freedom is something that I will again experience with friends and loved ones after nearly seven years of bars and cement, of periods of solitary confinement, and of my health care and autonomy restricted, including through routinely forced haircuts. I am forever grateful to the people who kept me alive, President Obama, my legal team and countless supporters.
"I watched the world change from inside prison walls and through the letters that I have received from veterans, trans young people, parents, politicians and artists. My spirits were lifted in dark times, reading of their support, sharing in their triumphs, and helping them through challenges of their own. I hope to take the lessons that I have learned, the love that I have been given, and the hope that I have to work toward making life better for others."
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... -walk-free
Chelsea Manning, Legal Team on Manning’s Upcoming Release from Military Prison
FreeChelsea May 9, 2017 ACLU, Press Releases, Updates
For Immediate Release: May 9, 2017
Contact:
Ryan Karerat, rkarerat@aclu.org
Christina DiPasquale, christina@balestramedia.com
Chelsea Manning, Legal Team on Manning’s Upcoming Release from Military Prison
Next week, Chelsea Manning will be released from U.S. military prison after serving a seven-year sentence for disclosing classified information that raised public awareness regarding the impact of war on innocent civilians.
Manning, a transgender woman, was serving an unprecedented 35-year sentence for whistleblowing and was forced to serve her sentence in an all-male prison. She received a commutation from President Obama in one of his final acts in office in January after an outpouring of support for Manning from the public over her mistreatment in prison.
The commutation followed a November 2016 request from Chelsea Manning’s appellate legal team, Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward of Freedman Boyd Hollander Goldberg Urias & Ward, PA, to the U.S. Army, the Office of the Pardon Attorney, and the President’s Counsel, requesting the commutation of Ms. Manning’s 35 year court-martial sentence to time served and “a first chance to live a real, meaningful life.”
The ACLU filed friend-of-court briefs in support of the appeal of Manning’s conviction and represents Manning in a lawsuit against the Department of Defense that was first filed in 2014 over the department’s refusal to treat Manning’s well-documented gender dysphoria.
In December of 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union and over a dozen LGBT groups sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging the commutation of Chelsea Manning’s sentence. More than 115,000 people signed a petition on the White House’s “We the People” platform, asking President Obama to commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence to time served.
Chelsea Manning released the following statement:
“For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea. I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine. Now, freedom is something that I will again experience with friends and loved ones after nearly seven years of bars and cement, of periods of solitary confinement, and of my health care and autonomy restricted, including through routinely forced haircuts. I am forever grateful to the people who kept me alive, President Obama, my legal team and countless supporters.
“I watched the world change from inside prison walls and through the letters that I have received from veterans, trans young people, parents, politicians and artists. My spirits were lifted in dark times, reading of their support, sharing in their triumphs, and helping them through challenges of their own. I hope to take the lessons that I have learned, the love that I have been given, and the hope that I have to work toward making life better for others.”
Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward, Manning’s clemency and appellate lawyers, said in a joint statement:
“Chelsea has already served the longest sentence of any whistleblower in the history of this country. It has been far too long, too severe, too draconian. President Obama’s act of commutation was the first time the military took care of this soldier who risked so much to disclose information that served the public interest. We are delighted that Chelsea can finally begin to enjoy the freedom she deserves. And we thank the many, many people and organizations who have supported her and continue to support her as we fight in her appeal to clear her name.”
Said Chase Strangio, the American Civil Liberties Union:
“Like far too many people in prison, particularly transgender women, Chelsea Manning has had to survive unthinkable violence throughout the seven years of her incarceration. Finally, she will be leaving prison and building a life beyond the physical walls of the many sites of her detention. It is a remarkable gift to the world that Chelsea will be able to grow and fight alongside us for justice.
“The transition out of these horrific institutions will not be easy, and part of what we hope is that Chelsea will find the space, love, and support to heal and build a life of her choosing. Her fight to be herself, to access the medical care that she needed, and to gain her freedom have transformed law and society for the better. The urgency of those fights for so many in our communities will continue, and Chelsea’s past and future work will no doubt be a critical force in moving towards a more just society for everyone.”
Chelsea Manning will not be taking interviews at this time. Members of Chelsea Manning’s legal team will be available for interviews between May 9 and May 15. The legal team will provide updates following her release, but will not be responding to inquiries directly during the week of the 15th. Follow @nancyhollander_, @chasestrangio and @ACLU for updates.
Chelsea Manning Has Been Released From Prison
Manning, who announced she was transgender while in prison, leaked more than 700,000 military intelligence reports and documents to WikiLeaks in 2010 and later had her sentence commuted by then-president Barack Obama.
Posted on May 17, 2017, at 7:01 a.m.
Talal Ansari
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Handout / Reuters
Chelsea Manning, a private first class soldier in the US Army who leaked more than 700,000 military intelligence reports and documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, was released from military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on Wednesday.
An Army spokesperson at Fort Leavenworth confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Manning was released at 2 a.m. CT. They provided no further details.
Manning, 29, was originally sentenced to 35 years but had her sentence commuted by then-president Barack Obama in January 2016. She will remain as an active-duty soldier in the Army but will not receive pay.
"Chelsea is still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice," her military defense lawyer, David Coombs, told NBC News. "She wouldn't be charged again for the same offenses, but if she committed a new crime, the military would still have jurisdiction over her."
Manning still has an ongoing appeal on her conviction.
Shortly after sentencing in 2013
Patrick Semansky / AP
Shortly after sentencing in 2013
In 2010, when she went by the name Bradley Manning, the soldier downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and then smuggled them out of her intelligence unit. It was reported that one of the CDs she was disguised as a music disc labeled “Lady Gaga.”
The leaked files contained files such as diplomatic cables, videos, and PowerPoint presentations. Manning was subsequently court-martialed and sentenced in 2013 with the opportunity for parole after seven years.
Soon after she was imprisoned, Manning came out as transgender and changed her name to Chelsea. In a statement read by her attorney on the Today show in August 2013, Manning said, “As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.” She eventually received hormone treatment while in prison.
Manning attempted suicide twice in 2016, according to her attorneys, citing her prison conditions. Her second suicide attempt came after Manning was sent to solitary confinement as punishment for her first suicide attempt, her lawyers said at the time. “She has repeatedly been punished for trying to survive and now is being repeatedly punished for trying to die," Chase Strangio, her attorney, wrote in an email to the Associated Press.
Manning also went on a hunger strike in September 2016 for several days for what she and her lawyers said was a lack of treatment for gender dysphoria.
Manning‘s commutation received a host of criticism from some in the government — including now-President Trump. In the days before his inauguration, Trump tweeted that Manning was a “Ungrateful TRAITOR” who “should never have been released from prison.”
Over the years, Manning, who has a Twitter account run by her supporters, has been vocal about her own imprisonment, gender transition, and current events.
On Monday Manning tweeted, “Two more days until the freedom of civilian life ^_^ Now hunting for private #healthcare like millions of Americans =P.”
A statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Manning last week read, “For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea,” with Manning adding that “I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world.”
https://www.buzzfeed.com/talalansari/ch ... kx3OVRK0jB
by Iamwhomiam » Wed May 17, 2017 9:10 am
by Luther Blissett » Wed May 17, 2017 10:36 am
by Iamwhomiam » Wed May 17, 2017 11:03 am
by seemslikeadream » Thu May 18, 2017 9:17 pm
by Burnt Hill » Thu May 18, 2017 9:38 pm
by Grizzly » Fri May 19, 2017 7:04 am
by seemslikeadream » Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:38 pm
Chelsea Manning Files For US Senate Bid In Maryland
By Associated Press | January 13, 2018 5:06 pm
NORTH BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Chelsea Manning will run for the U.S. Senate in Maryland.
The transgender former Army intelligence analyst who was convicted of leaking classified documents filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.
She is running as a Democrat and will likely challenge two-term Senator Democrat Ben Cardin. He has served two terms and is an overwhelming favorite to win.
The 30-year-old Manning listed a North Bethesda address in her FEC filing. She is running as a Democrat.
Manning was convicted of leaking classified information and spent more than six years behind bars.
Known as Bradley Manning at the time of her 2010 arrest, Manning came out as transgender after being sentenced. President Barack Obama granted clemency to Manning before leaving office.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chel ... d-maryland
by elfismiles » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:27 am
by Jerky » Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:36 pm
Grizzly » 19 May 2017 11:04 wrote:This whole Mighty Wurlitzer, has done it's job, I BELIEVE NOTHING I read or see or hear. They've won.
by seemslikeadream » Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:32 pm
POLICE BROKE INTO CHELSEA MANNING’S HOME WITH GUNS DRAWN — IN A “WELLNESS CHECK”
Micah Lee, Alice Speri
June 5 2018, 9:13 a.m.
SHORTLY AFTER Chelsea Manning posted what appeared to be two suicidal tweets on May 27, police broke into her home with their weapons drawn as if conducting a raid, in what is known as a “wellness” or “welfare check” on a person experiencing a mental health crisis. Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst turned whistleblower and U.S. Senate candidate, was not at home, but video obtained by The Intercept shows officers pointing their guns as they searched her empty apartment.
The footage, captured by a security camera, shows an officer with the Montgomery County Police Department in Bethesda, Maryland, knocking on Manning’s door. When no one responds, the officer pops the lock, and three officers enter the home with their guns drawn, while a fourth points a Taser. The Intercept is publishing this video with Manning’s permission.
“This is what a police state looks like,” Manning said. “Guns drawn during a ‘wellness’ check.”
Welfare checks like this, usually prompted by calls placed to 911 by concerned friends or family, too often end with police harming — or even killing — the person they were dispatched to check on.
Manning was out of the country at the time of the incident, said Janus Cassandra, a close friend who was on the phone with her that night. “If Chelsea had been home when these cops arrived with guns drawn, she would be dead.”
Reached for comment, Montgomery County Police Captain Paul Starks at first questioned the authenticity of the footage. “Could someone send you a video that is inaccurate?” he asked, before changing course to, “How do you know nobody was home?”
Starks ultimately admitted that police conducted the check at Manning’s home after receiving calls from “concerned parties” who had seen her tweets. He said officers looked up her address and used a master key to get into the building, and that when they realized she wasn’t there they tried to locate her by using her phone. Starks did not reply to follow-up questions about how they attempted to track her phone.
“They responded to the address to check her welfare,” Starks said. “Once inside the residence they realized that the residence did not match the photo that was posted on Twitter. … We tried to determine where she may be by attempting to use her phone but the phone was powered off and they weren’t able to leave a message.”
Starks said that the decision to draw weapons “depends on the officer” who “makes the decision based on circumstances that are affecting that officer in that specific situation.” He added that the department has a dedicated crisis intervention unit, and that all officers in the department receive 40 hours of training in “dealing with people who may be having emotional episodes or issues,” but he failed to indicate whether the department sets guidelines on how to conduct welfare checks.
“They don’t know what kind of circumstances they are entering when they enter a home,” Starks said, increasingly flustered. “The fact that a weapon is drawn doesn’t mean that they are going to shoot it.”
“Do you know what was going on in that apartment that night? No. Not until you open the door and go in… We respond to hundreds of thousands of calls each year. Many of them are not what is phoned in.”
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The problem, mental health experts say, is that police should not be the ones to check on suicidal people in the first place. In 2017, mental illness played a role in a quarter of 987 police killings, according to a tally by the Washington Post. People of color experiencing mental health crises are particularly at risk.
In 2018 alone, police have shot and killed at least 64 people who were suicidal or had other mental health issues, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. “This January, Alejandro Valdez was suicidal and threatening to kill himself. The police shot and killed him,” Susan Mizner, the group’s disability counsel, wrote in a recent post. “In February, Orbel Nazarians was suicidal and threatening himself with a knife. The police shot and killed him. In March, Jihad Merrick was suicidal and pointing a gun at his head. The police shot and killed him. In April, Benjamin Evans was making suicidal comments. Police shot and killed him.”
“There is absolutely no excuse for sending armed police to the home of someone who is having a suicidal episode,” said Cassandra. “As we’ve seen countless times, cops know that no matter what happens, they will be shielded from any accountability whatsoever.”
“It’s not necessary for police to be the first responders when somebody calls 911 and says they’re suicidal,” said Carl Takei, a senior ACLU attorney focusing on policing, in an interview. “In the same way that if I were to call 911 and say I’m having a heart attack, I would expect a medical response. As a society, we should expect a mental health response when somebody calls 911 and says they are suicidal, rather than dispatching somebody who is armed with a pistol and most of whose training is directed at enforcing criminal law and how to use force with people whom they suspect are breaking the law.”
When police do become the first responders in mental health crises, Takei added, the ways in which they handle them vary greatly between departments.
“Some have specially trained crisis intervention teams that are dispatched when there’s a call involving a mental health crisis; some departments provide some level of crisis intervention training to all officers; some departments provide no training at all,” said Takei. “And, of course, if a department provides no training or very little training on how to deal with situations involving a person in a mental health crisis, the officers are going to default to the training they received, which is very much based on a command-and-control culture.”
MANNING WAS ACCUSED of sending hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, exposing, among other things, evidence of numerous civilian deaths in Afghanistan and abuse by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces, as well as information about Guantánamo Bay detainees.
In 2013, she was convicted of six counts of espionage by a military court, but acquitted of “aiding the enemy” — the equivalent of a treason charge in U.S. military court. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence before leaving office. Last week, a military court upheld her conviction, which she had appealed on First Amendment grounds.
In January, Manning announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in Maryland.
Manning attempted suicide at least twice while in prison, where she had been repeatedly held in solitary confinement, including as punishment for one of those attempts. Last week, she alarmed her many supporters when she posted tweets suggesting suicidal intentions. In one, she posted a photo that appeared to show her standing on the ledge of a building, captioned with the words “im sorry.” Manning quickly deleted her tweets, but not before a number of people who had read them called police to check on her.
“Chelsea is still struggling to recover from the years of torture and mistreatment that she endured in prison, even as she continues to use her position to fight for what she believes in,” said Cassandra, her friend.
“I hope people can understand that she needs space to heal,” she added.
James Drylie, a former police officer who teaches criminal justice at Kean University in New Jersey and wrote a book on the so-called suicide by cop phenomenon, told The Intercept that while a lot of variables determine how police execute a wellness check, what happened at Manning’s home is not uncommon.
“They have to make sure there is no threat,” he added. “What you want to try to see is, what prompted them to think that this person may have been a threat to the officers?”
Drylie, who as an officer had a rifle pointed at him as he conducted a check on an individual reported to be suicidal, conceded that an aggressive police intervention would often only escalate a difficult situation — “Those situations always turn out to be very, very bad,” he said. But Drylie believes that police need to be there when a suicidal person is posing a threat to others, whether family or mental health professionals, and argued for better training, rather than removing police from wellness checks altogether.
“Really, one of the best ways to be prepared for all that is through training,” he said, citing costs as a reason why so many departments aren’t better equipped to handle mental health crises. “I don’t think we do a good enough job.”
There is no question that police too often resort to violence in situations that call for de-escalation, but the state of mental health services across the country is equally to blame, experts argue.
“There are two simultaneous national crises — one of police violence and the other of inadequate mental health treatment — and we are making a mistake if we focus blame only on the police,” wrote Matthew Epperson, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, in an op-ed following the police killing of Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-year-old man whose father had called 911 as he suffered a mental health episode. “They have become, by default, the way in which our society chooses to deal with people with mental illness in crisis, particularly in poor and minority communities.”
“Training alone will not solve the problem of police violence against people with mental illnesses,” Epperson added. “If we are to prevent future tragedies, then we should be ready to invest in a more responsive mental health system and relieve the police of the burden of being the primary, and often sole, responders.”
“The moral of this story is don’t call the cops,” Cassandra said. “If you know someone who is having a mental health crisis, call a friend, a trusted neighbor, or someone close by who can safely intervene. Keep the number to a volunteer emergency medical service in your city or neighborhood that can be called directly without a police response. Mental health emergencies require friends and first responders, not gun-toting cops.”
Last week, a friend posting from Manning’s account said that she was “safe.” “She is on the phone with friends,” the friend added. “Thanks everyone for your concern and please give her some space.”
https://theintercept.com/2018/06/05/che ... al-health/
by seemslikeadream » Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:12 pm
What killed the computer hacker who turned in Chelsea Manning still a mystery
Adrian Lamo, center, walks out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Dec. 20, 2011, after testifying at a military hearing against Army Pfc. Bradley, later Chelsea, Manning. Forensic pathologists who performed Lamo's autopsy were unable to determine how the 37-year-old died in March in Wichita.
Adrian Lamo, center, walks out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., on Dec. 20, 2011, after testifying at a military hearing against Army Pfc. Bradley, later Chelsea, Manning. Forensic pathologists who performed Lamo's autopsy were unable to determine how the 37-year-old died in March in Wichita. AP file
June 06, 2018 01:59 PM
Exactly what killed the computer hacker who gave up Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to the FBI remains a mystery.
Forensic pathologists who performed Adrian Lamo's autopsy were unable to determine how the 37-year-old died in March in Wichita. His autopsy report, released Wednesday afternoon, lists Lamo's cause and manner of death as "undetermined." That means that after a thorough examination of his body, results of toxicology testing and information about Lamo's life and last hours, there is nothing that points to a specific reason he died.
"Despite a complete autopsy and supplemental testing, no definitive cause of death was identified," Scott Kipper, deputy coroner and medical examiner at the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, wrote in the report.
The opinion section of the report notes that Lamo had a history of anxiety, depression, Asperger's syndrome, and drug and alcohol abuse. He also suffered from a seizure disorder that could not be ruled out as a possible cause or contributing factor to his death, it says.
The report also notes that Lamo had creatinine levels consistent with kidney failure and higher than usual potassium levels, but the significance of those was unknown.
A toxicology screen showed several drugs used to treat seizures, anxiety and depression in his system — as well as a designer drug called flubromazepam. None were at concentrations likely to cause or contribute to his death, the report says.
It goes on to say that "the fatal ranges of some of these more esoteric drugs is not well studied" or described. However, the finding of such drugs at autopsy "suggest the possibility that other rare drugs not tested for (at autopsy) may have been used" or abused, the report says.
Lamo's body tested negative for alcohol and a variety of other illicit, prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
"As the cause of death cannot be definitely determined, the manner of death is best classified as undetermined," the report says.
Lamo was found dead in his apartment at 4925 E. Shadybrook in Wichita on March 14 — a week after he was last seen alive.
Since then what caused his death has been the subject of much speculation.
Police, in announcing Lamo's death, said they didn't think it was a result of foul play. Lamo had been living in Wichita for more than a year at the time of his death, a friend previously told The Eagle.
Lamo gained notoriety — and hate — for several of his exploits including hacks of The New York Times and Microsoft that got him convicted of computer fraud. Perhaps his most famous endeavor was exposing Manning as the person who gave a trove of classified government documents to WikiLeaks.
Examiners who performed Lamo's autopsy found a sticker on his left thigh under this clothes that reads: "Adrian Lamo Project Vigilant Assistant Director Threat Analysis/Investigation 70 Bates Street Northwest, Washington DC 20001."
Project Vigilant is a Florida-based semi-secret government contractor that claims it encouraged Lamo to disclose the source of the WikiLeaks leak.
Manning, a United States Army soldier who went by Bradley then, was convicted in connection with the leak in 2013. Her 35-year sentence was commuted by President Obama last year.
A look at the case against the former Army intelligence analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks. Chelsea Manning, a transgender woman, was known as Bradley Manning at the time of her 2010 arrest (video published b McClatchyThe New York Times
http://amp.kansas.com/news/local/crime/ ... 89594.html
by seemslikeadream » Fri Mar 01, 2019 8:15 am
Charlie Savage
Chelsea Manning (@xychelsea) tells me that she's been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, which she intends to fight. Subpoena doesn't say topic, but it's likely related to the @wikileaks / Assange case.
Disclosing Subpoena for Testimony, Chelsea Manning Vows to Fight
Feb. 28, 2019
Chelsea Manning last year in London. She said that her legal team would file a motion on Friday morning to quash the subpoena.Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA, via Shutterstock
Chelsea Manning last year in London. She said that her legal team would file a motion on Friday morning to quash the subpoena.Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA, via Shutterstock
WASHINGTON — Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted in 2013 of leaking archives of secret military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks, revealed in an interview on Thursday that she had been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury — and vowed to fight it.
The subpoena does not say what prosecutors intend to ask her about. But it was issued in the Eastern District of Virginia and comes after prosecutors inadvertently disclosed in November that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been charged under seal in that district.
Ms. Manning, who provided a copy of the subpoena to The New York Times, said that her legal team would file a motion on Friday morning to quash it, arguing that it would violate her constitutional rights to force her to appear. She declined to say whether she would cooperate if that failed.
“Given what is going on, I am opposing this,” she said. “I want to be very forthright I have been subpoenaed. I don’t know the parameters of the subpoena apart from that I am expected to appear. I don’t know what I’m going to be asked.”
Mr. Assange has been living for years in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid arrest. It has not been clear what the sealed charge or charges relate to, but prosecuting him for publishing government secrets would raise novel issues about the limits of First Amendment press freedoms.
Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the office of the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, did not respond to an inquiry late Thursday. But there were multiple reasons to believe that the subpoena is related to the investigation of Mr. Assange.
Among them, Ms. Manning said that her lawyers have been talking about the subpoena with an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District, Gordon D. Kromberg. After an inadvertent court filing revealed that Mr. Assange has been charged under seal, it was Mr. Kromberg who successfully argued before a judge that any such charges remain a secret and should not be unsealed.
Moreover, she said, Mr. Kromberg told her lawyers in vague terms that prosecutors wanted to talk to her about her past statements. During her court-martial, Ms. Manning delivered a lengthy statement about how she came to copy archives of secret documents and send them to WikiLeaks, including her online interactions with someone who was likely Mr. Assange.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that the government is continuing to pursue criminal charges against Julian Assange, apparently for his role in uncovering and providing the public truthful information about matters of great public interest,” said Barry Pollack, a lawyer for Mr. Assange.
In recent years, Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks have become notorious for their role in disseminating Democratic emails stolen by Russian hackers as part of the Russian government’s covert efforts to damage the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help Donald J. Trump win.
The antisecrecy group, however, had previously vaulted to fame by publishing archives of classified documents — including logs of significant events in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and diplomatic cables — that revealed many things about what was secretly happening in the world. All of those initial files, it eventually emerged, had been provided by Ms. Manning.
In 2017, WikiLeaks published documents about C.I.A. hacking tools. A software engineer, Joshua A. Schulte, has been charged with that leak.
After Ms. Manning’s leaks, the Obama administration had considered trying to indict Mr. Assange. But while it has become common to prosecute officials under the Espionage Act for leaking files, using it against someone who merely received and published leaked files raised fears about chilling investigative reporting.
The Obama legal team eventually shelved the idea. But the Trump legal team moved forward with developing a sealed criminal complaint against Mr. Assange — for something — last summer, providing a potential basis to seek his extradition were he to emerge from the embassy.
The subpoena to Ms. Manning, dated Jan. 22, says that she was ordered to appear on Feb. 5 before a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va. But she said that date got pushed back, and she is now supposed to testify on March 5.
During her court-martial, Ms. Manning took responsibility for her actions and said that Mr. Assange had not directed them.
“No one associated with W.L.O.” — an abbreviation she used to refer to the WikiLeaks organization — “pressured me into sending any more information,” she said at the time. “I take full responsibility.”
Because that account would seemingly be helpful to the defense, she said she wondered if prosecutors wanted to try to get her to back away from it. She would not do so, she insisted, while criticizing the secrecy that surrounds grand jury proceedings.
“I am not going to contribute to a process that I feel is dangerous and could potentially place me in a position where I am forced to backtrack on the truth,” she said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/us/p ... poena.html
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