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White House Petition to Pardon Chelsea Manning Reaches Threshold

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The Obama administration now has 60 days to respond to a petition demanding that the President commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence to time-served, after a White House petition regarding the whistleblower reached the 100,000-signature threshold.

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There are only 38 days left in Obama’s term, however.

The petition asserted that Manning, "has already served more time in prison than any individual in United States history who disclosed information in the public interest," and that, "her disclosures harmed no one."

“Chelsea Manning has been incarcerated since May 2010, including in unlawful, unusually harsh solitary confinement for 11 months before her trial,” the petition states. “She has spent the past six years helping others.”

The petition goes on to discuss Manning’s suicide attempts, and urges the President to save her life.

“Chelsea is a woman in a men's facility facing ongoing mistreatment. She has attempted suicide and has been punished with additional time in solitary confinement for her desperation. Her life is at risk and you can save her.”

As of Monday evening, 111,139 people had signed the whitehouse.gov petition.

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“With We the People, you can easily create a petition online, share it, and collect signatures. If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, we’ll review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response,” the White House website states.

However, there is a caveat which may allow the White House to not respond.

“In some cases, the White House response might not address the facts of a particular matter to avoid the appearance of improper influence (such as in specific procurement, law enforcement or adjudicatory matters),” it states.

They could, in theory, also just run out the clock. It remains unclear if President-elect Donald Trump will continue the petition page on the web site.

Last month, Manning’s legal team formally put in a request for clemency for Manning. The White House has not responded the request.

Manning has served more than six of her 35-year prison sentence for violating the US Espionage Act in 2013 by giving some 700,000 documents to the WikiLeaks website for publication online. During his time, she has been denied medical treatment for gender dysphoria and has twice attempted suicide.

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