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Obama Denies Clemency to Native American Activist Leonard Peltier

HeadlineJan 19, 2017

During President Obama’s final news conference Wednesday, he also spoke about his recent decision to commute Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning’s sentence.

President Barack Obama: “It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportional—disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received.”

Also on Wednesday, the Office of the Pardon Attorney has announced President Obama has denied clemency to imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier. Peltier is a former member of the American Indian Movement who was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a shootout on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. Imprisoned for 40 years, he has long maintained his innocence. Amnesty International condemned the decision, saying, “We are deeply saddened by the news that President Obama will not let Leonard go home.” We’ll have more on President Obama’s speech and legacy after headlines with professors Eddie Glaude and Rashid Khalidi.

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