Top Republican lawmakers are ripping President Obama’s last-minute decision to commute the bulk of former Army Private Chelsea Manning’s 35-year prison sentence.
Manning was convicted in 2013 for disclosing scores of sensitive military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. She will be released this May after the president’s order Tuesday.
Arizona senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, described the commutation as a “grave mistake.”
“It is a sad, yet perhaps fitting commentary on President Obama’s failed national security policies that he would commute the sentence of an individual that endangered the lives of American troops, diplomats, and intelligence sources,” McCain said in a statement.
“Chelsea Manning broke her oath and made it more likely that others would join the ranks of her fallen comrades,” the statement read. “Her prison sentence may end in a few months’ time, but her dishonor will last forever.”
Texas congressman Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, also condemned the president’s decision.
“Inmate Manning was convicted of multiple acts of espionage against the United States and other serious military misconduct,” Thornberry said in a statement. “These actions potentially put our country and fellow soldiers at serious risk.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan censured the decision and its consequences for America’s national security.
“This is just outrageous,” he said. “President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes.”
Update: Newly elected Wyoming congressman Liz Cheney said in a statement that Obama has “commuted the sentence of a traitor who leaked thousands of classified documents, putting our national security and our men and women in uniform at risk. Documents provided to Wikileaks were used by Osama bin Laden to gain information on the U.S. battle plan in Afghanistan. Today we also learned President Obama recently released one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards from Guantanamo. Barack Obama has chosen to end his presidency the same way he began it–aiding America’s enemies.”
