Chelsea Manning is back in the slammer ...

dud

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2001
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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...for-defying-grand-jury-subpoena-idUSKCN1QP1ZO

IMHO the most interesting portion of the article is as follows:

"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been a longtime target of a criminal investigation in the United States, had promised to accept extradition if Manning was freed."





Excerpt:

"Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was taken to jail on Friday after a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, held her in contempt for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury, representatives for Manning and the U.S. Justice Department confirmed.

Manning had appeared before the grand jury on Wednesday but declined to answer questions in connection with what is widely believed to be the government’s long-running investigation into Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange, citing her First, Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights under the Constitution.

She returned to court Friday for a hearing and Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Virginia weighed the legal arguments Manning used to justify her decision to defy the grand jury subpoena.

Manning’s communications team released a statement saying the judge said she will be detained until she either cooperates or the grand jury finishes its term.

It is unclear exactly why federal prosecutors want Manning to testify, although her representatives say the questions she was asked concern the release of information she disclosed to the public in 2010 through WikiLeaks.

Manning was convicted by court-martial in 2013 of espionage and other offenses for furnishing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks while she was an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, in his final days in office, commuted the final 28 years of Manning’s 35-year sentence.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been a longtime target of a criminal investigation in the United States, had promised to accept extradition if Manning was freed.

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012.

A document that prosecutors say was filed in federal court last year by mistake appeared to show that federal authorities already have obtained a sealed indictment against Assange.

After journalists discovered the document, prosecutors declined to either confirm or deny a sealed indictment had been issued by the Alexandria-based grand jury, which has been hearing evidence on Assange and Wikileaks for years."
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,613
11,256
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He probably saw the lite sentence Manafort got and thought that was better than the embassy.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,686
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He probably saw the lite sentence Manafort got and thought that was better than the embassy.

Probably not. It's just bullshit from Assange. She'll be released eventually when the term of the grand jury expires, anyway.

What then, Julian?

I don't understand why she didn't just assert her 5th amendment rights rather than a bunch of others.
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,911
4,945
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So why is it Roger Stone isn't in jail yet? I guess some people can spit in the face of the court and some cannot.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,686
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So why is it Roger Stone isn't in jail yet? I guess some people can spit in the face of the court and some cannot.

Stone may get his comeuppance Monday.

Grand juries are a whole different deal. The only way a person can refuse to testify is by asserting their 5th amendment rights & even that doesn't matter if immunity is forced upon them.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
15,613
11,256
136
Probably not. It's just bullshit from Assange. She'll be released eventually when the term of the grand jury expires, anyway.

What then, Julian?

I don't understand why she didn't just assert her 5th amendment rights rather than a bunch of others.
She has already been tried and convicted for those crimes and the news said she was given further immunity. If you have no threat of being tried, you have no right to claim the 5th.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,686
136
She has already been tried and convicted for those crimes and the news said she was given further immunity. If you have no threat of being tried, you have no right to claim the 5th.

The linked Reuters article leaves that out. It's apparently true, however, so she's in jail. It's automatic.