--- title: Chelsea Manning: White House Must Respond to Petition description: The petition calling on President Obama to shorten Chelsea Manning's prison sentence has received more than 100,000 signatures canonical: https://time.com/4597422/chelsea-manning-petition-white-house/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-11T20:44:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:13:52.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Chelsea Manning Petition Receives 100,000 Signatures og:description: Now the White House needs to respond og:url: https://time.com/4597422/chelsea-manning-petition-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77880791a0dcb28a/6988ae69fb4eac104388fe2f/chelsea-manning2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Chelsea Manning og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chelsea Manning Petition Receives 100,000 Signatures twitter:description: Now the White House needs to respond twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77880791a0dcb28a/6988ae69fb4eac104388fe2f/chelsea-manning2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chelsea Manning’s Petition Just Topped 100,000 Signatures. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:13 AM UTCPublished: Dec 11, 2016 8:44 PM UTC  Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick. Chelsea Manning poses for a photo wearing a wig and lipstick.U.S. Army/AP by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:13 AM UTCPublished: Dec 11, 2016 8:44 PM UTC The [petition](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/commute-chelsea-mannings-sentence-time-served-1) calling on President Obama to shorten Chelsea Manning’s prison sentence has received more than 106,000 signatures as of Sunday afternoon, surpassing its 100,000-signature goal and requiring the White House to respond. Manning, who admitted leaking secret military and government documents to WikiLeaks, asked [Obama to commute her current 35-year sentence](http://time.com/4570117/chelsea-manning-president-obama-commute-sentence/) down to the time she has served, a little more than six years. “Chelsea has already served more time in prison than any individual in the United States history who disclosed information in the public interest,” the petition said. “Her disclosures harmed no one.” The New York _Times_ [reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/chelsea-manning-asks-obama-to-cut-sentence-to-time-served.html?%5Fr=3) that Manning wrote in a statement in the petition that she took “full and complete responsibility for her actions,” calling them “wrong.” “The sole relief I am asking for is to be released from military prison after serving six years of confinement as a person who did not intend to harm the interests of the United States or harm any service members,” she wrote. The White House has 60 days to officially respond to the petition, which was created on Nov. 14. “I am just grateful that I am not forgotten,” Manning said Sunday on a Twitter account that posts on her behalf. > [](https://twitter.com/xychelsea/status/807959376426254336) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4597422/chelsea-manning-petition-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4597422/chelsea-manning-petition-white-house/"},"headline":"Chelsea Manning’s Petition Just Topped 100,000 Signatures. 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