Chelsea Manning, born Bradley Manning, was an Army intelligence analyst who was convicted of leaking classified intel to WikiLeaks, has confirmed that they will be running for the Senate in Maryland.
“Yup, we’re running for Senate,” Manning tweeted three days after she filed her statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
Manning came out as transgender after being in prison and sentenced to serve 35 years for the leak. Manning was granted clemency by Barack Obama before the end of his term.
Though born in Oklahoma, Manning has been registered to vote in North Bethesda since late last year. A felony conviction does not seem to prevent one from running for the Senate. Despite this, the paperwork has been not filed with the state board and must be done by Feb. 27th, according to their website.
According to Fox News: “Since leaving prison, Manning has become known for controversial tweets, often accompanied with a series of emojis and the hashtag #WeGotThis. Manning recently tweeted out the message “f—k the police” on Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, along with the hashtag #DisarmThePolice.”
As reported by The Telegraph:
In January 2010, Manning first began speaking to Wikileaks, having found out about Julian Assange’s site when they leaked documents relating to the September 11 attacks, in November 2009.
She then downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from her computer onto a CD marked “Lady Gaga” and took it to the US, where she was to spend a fortnight’s leave.
Manning contacted The Washington Post and New York Times, but neither seemed interested. She then sent the documents to Wikileaks, unaware of whether they had even been received.
She then returned to Iraq.
In March 2011 further charges were added, meaning that she faced 22 charges including espionage and aiding the enemy – a charge that carries the death penalty.
On February 28, 2013, Manning pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges. She told the court in a speech that lasted over an hour that said she had leaked the cables “to show the true cost of war”.
On August 14, Manning apologized to the court.
“I am sorry that my actions hurt people,” she said.
“I’m sorry that they hurt the United States. I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions. When I made these decisions I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people. … At the time of my decisions I was dealing with a lot of issues.”