--- title: President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence description: President Obama does not believe his decision to shorten the sentence of Chelsea Manning will signal his support for leaking state secrets canonical: https://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T19:49:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:47:36.913Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence in Final Press Conference og:description: "I feel very comfortable that justice has still been served" og:url: https://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d179cd946ffa342/6988b603cf40a8a038c46198/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5104 og:image:height: 2871 og:image:alt: Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence in Final Press Conference twitter:description: "I feel very comfortable that justice has still been served" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d179cd946ffa342/6988b603cf40a8a038c46198/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence in Final Press Conference > Sponsored content. 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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 [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 18, 2017 7:49 PM UTC  President Obama speaks during his final presidential news conference on Jan. 18, 2017, in Washington. President Obama speaks during his final presidential news conference on Jan. 18, 2017, in Washington. Carolyn Kaster—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 18, 2017 7:49 PM UTC [President Obama](http://time.com/4634649/president-obama-history-legacy-time/) does not believe his decision to [shorten the sentence of Chelsea Manning](http://time.com/4636935/president-obama-commute-chelsea-manning-prison-sentence/) will signal his support for leaking state secrets. The President’s remarks follow a defense put forward by his [White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest](http://time.com/4636826/president-obama-surprise-josh-earnest-final-briefing/) earlier on Wednesday. The White House has faced backlash because of his decision, largely from Congressional Republicans. The President announced his decision to commute Manning’s sentence from 35 years to time served plus 120 days on Tuesday evening. Her sentence will expire on May 17, 2017. “Let’s be clear Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence,” President Obama said during his final press conference on Wednesday. “The notion that the average person who is thinking about exposing vital classified information will think that it goes unpunished; I don’t think would get that impression from the sentence that Chelsea Manning has served.” The President said the time Manning was sentenced to was “disproportionate” to the sentences other whistleblowers have faced. “I feel very comfortable that justice has still been served,” Obama said. “It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received, and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence,” Obama said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/"},"headline":"President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence in Final Press Conference","datePublished":"2017-01-18T19:49:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:47:36.913Z","description":"\"I feel very comfortable that justice has still been served\"","url":"https://time.com/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d179cd946ffa342/6988b603cf40a8a038c46198/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8d179cd946ffa342/6988b603cf40a8a038c46198/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama","caption":"Obama","creditText":"Carolyn Kaster—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4638194/president-obama-final-press-conference/","name":"President Obama Defends Commuting Chelsea Manning's Sentence in Final Press Conference"}}]}] ```