Manning disclosed tens of thousands of activity reports about the war in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of reports about the war in Iraq, State Department cables, and assessment briefs of Guantanamo Bay detainees using the WikiLeaks platform.
In 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison, but her sentence was commuted by Obama in 2017.
In February 2019, Manning received a subpoena to testify in a U.S. government case against Assange. She refused, citing that she had already provided all the information she had during her 2013 court martial.
Manning was found in contempt of court and jailed in Alexandria, Virginia, with her release contingent on her testifying or the grand jury concluding its work.
After the grand jury’s term expired, Manning was released but soon served with a new subpoena. When she again refused to testify, the court ordered her return to jail, imposing fines for each day she remained non-compliant.
On March 12, 2020, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga found that the grand jury’s business had concluded and ordered Manning’s release. Supporters launched crowdfunding campaigns to help pay her fines and post-incarceration living expenses, raising substantial funds in a short period.
The Assange Plea Deal
Assange is expected to plead guilty and has already returned to Australia. Court documents revealing Assange’s plea deal were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. He is expected to be sentenced to 62 months, with credit for time served in a British prison, which would allow him to return to Australia, his birthplace.
