Chelsea Manning releases 1st statement since clemency win

Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the convicted national security secret leaker, will remain an active-duty, unpaid soldier, after her release. | U.S. Army via AP

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A transgender soldier imprisoned for releasing classified military information has released her first statement since being granted clemency, saying she hopes to use lessons she’s learned in prison to help others.

Chelsea Manning issued the statement Tuesday ahead of her release next week, expressing gratitude to her supporters and to former President Barack Obama.

Manning served nearly seven years of her 35-year sentence at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, before Obama granted her clemency in the final days of his presidency.

The Oklahoma native was convicted in 2013 of leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents and battlefield video to WikiLeaks. An intelligence analyst in Iraq, she was known as Bradley Manning before transitioning.

Her attorneys say she’ll be released from a military prison on May 17.

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