By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger is blasting President Obama’s decision to commute the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, the transgender former Army Private who leaked thousands of classified military documents to Wikileaks, when she was known as Bradley Manning.
Kinzinger, who is in the Air National Guard, told “The Big John and Ray Show” on WLS, that Manning does not deserve to go free. “I think it’s a disgraceful act to be honest with you. We are told, as a military pilot and now as a Congressman, you never release any sensitive information, whether it’s secret, top secret, or otherwise. Because frankly, there are lives that depend on keeping this stuff secret.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest tells CNN that the amount of time Manning has served is consistent with the sentence imposed on others who committed similar crimes, but who received less attention.
But Kinzinger says that ignores the fact that Manning put American lives at risk. “We know for instance that the documents released by Miss Manning were in fact told by….you know, Al Qaeda said to study them, to learn what you can about how the U.S. works. It’s absolutely wrong. She deserved all of the 35 years that she was sentenced.”
Kinzinger also criticized Democrats who are planning to skip the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, saying , “This is corrosive to democracy. Whether you agree or disagree with what Donald Trump says, the fact is according to our constitution he has to win the Electoral College and he did that. He won, he won legitimately.”
Kinzinger was one of the few Republicans who were openly critical of Trump before the election. He had vowed not to vote for Trump but whether Kinzinger eventually did vote for him is not known.
So far about 60 Democratic members of Congress have said they will boycott Trump’s inauguration, including Bobby Rush, Mike Quigley, Luis Guitierrez, and Dan Lipinski of the Chicago area.
@ 2017 WLS-AM News
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