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White House: “Stark Difference” Between Chelsea Manning, Ed Snowden

HeadlineJan 17, 2017

And the Obama administration signaled Friday it might be open to commuting the sentence of U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, while appearing to close the door to a pardon for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters there was a “stark difference” between the two cases.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest: “There are some important differences, including the scale of the crime, the crimes that were committed, and the consequences of their crimes. Obviously, the—as Chelsea Manning has acknowledged, and as we have said many times, the release of the information that she provided to WikiLeaks was damaging to national security. But the disclosures by Edward Snowden were far more serious and far more dangerous.”

On Friday, a campaign supporting Edward Snowden delivered a petition with more than 1 million signatures to the White House demanding a pardon. Meanwhile, NBC News reported last week that Chelsea Manning is on a “short-list” for a commutation.

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