--- title: Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence: World Reacts description: Reactions were mixed as supporters praised the move to commute Chelsea Manning's sentence while Republicans piled on criticism canonical: https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-17T23:42:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:46:24.872Z article:section: Politics og:title: The World Reacts to Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence og:description: Republicans piled on criticism og:url: https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The World Reacts to Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence twitter:description: Republicans piled on criticism twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The World Reacts to Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 17, 2017 11:42 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 17, 2017 11:42 PM UTC Chelsea Manning has been both lauded and vilified from different quarters since leaking hundreds of thousands of secret files in 2010\. Now that President Obama has [commuted her sentence](http://time.com/4636935/president-obama-commute-chelsea-manning-prison-sentence/)—so that she will be released in May instead of 2045—social media reactions have varied as widely as reactions to [Manning](http://time.com/4636953/wikileaks-chelsea-manning-julian-assange/) news always has. While Republicans like Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham reacted with outrage, calling the decision a “slap in the face” to service members, some celebrities and supporters like Mia Farrow and Michael Moore applauded the move. Read how politicians, actors and activists are reacting to the news on social media: > [](https://twitter.com/SpeakerRyan/status/821486533102411779) > [](https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/821491093590208517) > [](https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/821492635965816832) > [](https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/821469198081814529) > [](https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/821471844779835393) > [](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/821468546223996933) > [](https://twitter.com/robdelaney/status/821492926844960770) > [](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/821476926372118531) > [](https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/821470875178434560) Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence: World Reacts ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/"},"headline":"The World Reacts to Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence","datePublished":"2017-01-17T23:42:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:46:24.872Z","description":"Republicans piled on criticism","url":"https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4637142/chelsea-manning-edward-snowden-president-obama-commute-reaction/","name":"The World Reacts to Chelsea Manning's Commuted Sentence"}}]}] ```