Obama commutes most of Chelsea Manning’s sentence
Obama commutes most of Chelsea Manning’s sentence
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, allowing the convicted Army leaker to go free nearly three decades early as part of a sweeping move to offer clemency in the final days of his administration.
Manning, who will leave prison in May, was one of 209 inmates whose sentences Obama was shortening, a list that includes Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Lopez-Rivera. Obama also pardoned 64 people, including retired Gen. James Cartwright, who was charged with making false statements during a probe into disclosure of classified information.
“These 273 individuals learned that our nation is a forgiving nation,” said White House counsel Neil Eggleston, “where hard work and a commitment to rehabilitation can lead to a second chance, and where wrongs from the past will not deprive an individual of the opportunity to move forward.”
Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, has been serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified government and military documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. She asked Obama last November to commute her sentence to time served.
Manning has spent more than six years behind bars. She was convicted in military court in 2013 of six violations of the Espionage Act and 14 other offenses for leaking more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video to WikiLeaks.
Putin: Obama administration trying to undermine Trump
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin took a parting shot at the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing it of trying to undermine Donald Trump’s legitimacy with fake allegations and “binding the president-elect hand and foot to prevent him from fulfilling his election promises.”
In his first public remarks about an unsubstantiated dossier outlining unverified claims that Trump engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel, Putin dismissed the material as “nonsense.”
“People who order such fakes against the U.S. president-elect, fabricate them and use them in political struggle are worse than prostitutes,” Putin said. “They have no moral restrictions whatsoever, and it highlights a significant degree of degradation of political elites in the West, including in the United States.”
Separately, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, was a “rude provocation.” The diplomat contemptuously called its author a “runaway swindler from MI6,” Britain’s foreign intelligence agency. Trump has rejected the sexual allegations as “fake news” and “phony stuff.”
The statements by Putin and Lavrov reflected the Kremlin’s deep anger at President Barack Obama’s administration in a culmination of tensions that have built up over the crisis in Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
18 million more uninsured if Obamacare killed, not replaced
WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance premiums would soar for millions of Americans and 18 million more would be uninsured in just one year if Republicans scuttle much of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul without a replacement, Congress’ budget analysts said Tuesday.
Spotlighting potential perils for Republicans, the analysts’ report immediately became a flashing hazard light for this year’s effort by Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to annul Obama’s law and — in a more complicated challenge — institute their own alternative.
It also swiftly became political fodder in what is expected to be one of this year’s biggest battles in Congress.
Republicans have produced several outlines for how they’d redraft Obama’s 2010 statute, but they’ve failed to unite behind any one plan. In fact, President-elect Trump and GOP congressional leaders have at times offered clashing descriptions of a top goal, so eventual success is hardly guaranteed.
Tuesday’s evaluation came from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, joined by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.
Nigerian air force bombs refugee camp, more than 100 dead
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian air force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp on Tuesday, killing more than 100 refugees and aid workers and wounding 200, a government official and doctors said.
Military commander Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor confirmed an accidental bombardment in the northeastern town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon, saying “some” civilians were killed.
It was believed to be the first time Nigeria’s military has acknowledged making such a mistake in a region where villagers have in the past reported civilian casualties in the near-daily bombings targeting the Islamic militants.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari expressed deep sadness and regret at “this regrettable operational mistake.”
A Borno state government official, who was helping to coordinate the evacuation of wounded from the remote area by helicopters, said more than 100 refugees and aid workers were among the dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Pence promises big investment in infrastructure
NEW YORK (AP) — Vice President-elect Mike Pence is pledging to a group of mayors that the Trump administration will make a serious investment in infrastructure.
Speaking Tuesday to a meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, Pence said President-elect Donald Trump told him to pass on that “we’re going to do an infrastructure bill and it’s going to be big.”
Trump, who consistently lamented the state of American bridges, roads and airports on the campaign trail, has promised to invest $1 trillion in transportation and infrastructure spending, though he has provided few details.
Pence also said the new administration will work with cities as partners. He looked ahead to Friday’s inauguration, saying it will mark “the dawn of a new era for our country, it’s an era of growth and opportunity and renewed greatness for America.”
Trump was set to make his first Washington trip in weeks Tuesday, as his inauguration festivities approach.
Texas, 13 other states sue to block Obama coal mining rule
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas and 13 other states have asked a federal court to block final rules from President Barack Obama’s administration designed to reduce coal mining’s impact on streams.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned a Washington-based appeals court for an injunction Tuesday.
Paxton said in a statement that the “Stream Protection Rule” imposes “mandatory, one-size-fits-all” regulations that violate states’ rights.
Joining Texas are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Last month, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed a separate lawsuit challenging the rule there.