President Trump turned his attention to Chelsea Manning Thursday in an early-morning tweet calling the Army intelligence analyst turned whistleblower a “ungrateful TRAITOR” for criticizing President Obama.
Manning, whose sentence President Obama commuted during his final week in office, published a column in The Guardian arguing that Obama’s willingness to compromise undermined progressive causes.
Trump’s apparent defense of Obama represents a surprising turn given the new president’s barrage of insults about his predecessor’s leadership throughout the campaign.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Eyewitness Accounts From the Trump Rally Shooting
- From 2022: How the Threat of Political Violence Is Transforming America
- ‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
- Remembering Shannen Doherty , the Quintessential Gen X Girl
- How Often Do You Really Need to Wash Your Sheets?
- Why Mail Theft Is on the Rise
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox
Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com