Outgoing President Barack Obama says contructive US-Russia relations are in the worlds interest

Outgoing President Barack Obama says contructive US-Russia relations are in the worlds interest

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday 19 December it is in the worlds interest for the United States and Russia to have a constructive relationship, but Russias return to an adversarial spirit under President Vladimir Putin made that difficult. I think that it is in Americas interest, in the worlds interest, that we have a constructive relationship with Russia, Obama said in a news conference on Wednesday (January 18) two days before handing over the presidency to Donald Trump. Obama also stressed sanctions on Russia were because of encroachments on Ukraines sovereignty and independence. Jan 19, 2017
Outgoing President Barack Obama says Chelsea Manning served a tough prison sentence

Outgoing President Barack Obama says Chelsea Manning served a tough prison sentence

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday 18 January that former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning had served a tough prison term and his decision to commute her 35-year sentence to about seven years served would not signal leniency toward leakers of US government secrets.Obama told his final news conference as president that he felt it made sense to commute Mannings sentence because she went to trial and took responsibility for her crime. Manning gave classified information to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in 2010. She received a very disproportionate sentence relative to what other leakers had received, Obama said, adding that he felt very comfortable that justice has been served. Jan 19, 2017
Barack Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence

Barack Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence

President Barack Obama commuted the remaining prison term of Chelsea Manning, the army intelligence analyst who was convicted for 35 years for violations under the Espionage Act. Manning had released American military and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. The White House said Manning’s commutation was not influenced by Julian Assange or WikiLeaks. Jan 18, 2017