By Fox News:
Outgoing Defense Secretary Ash Carter, as well as top U.S. Army leaders, recommended against President Obama commuting the bulk of Chelsea Manning’s 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified documents, a senior defense official told Fox News.
The revelation comes as Obama has found himself on the defensive over the decision, with numerous security-minded lawmakers condemning the move and warning it sets a “dangerous precedent.” Obama is expected to defend the commutation at his final press conference in office Wednesday afternoon, amid speculation over whether more clemency decisions are coming.
But sources described to Fox News the vast extent of the potential damage done by Manning’s document leak.
“Ambassadors were forced to resign, [CIA] station chiefs had to be recalled, secret diplomatic cables were revealed,” said one official, recalling some of the fallout.
Fox News also has learned Manning leaked 700,000 documents, not the 250,000 cited by officials on Tuesday. Defense officials told Fox News that Manning’s actions accelerated the Arab Spring and might even have contributed to the rise of ISIS…
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