We bring you Obama's final presidential press conference; analysis and updates on Tom Price's confirmation hearings for secretary of the Health and Human Services Department; and what we can learn from George Washington's 1796 farewell address in the current political climate.
Analysis: President Obama defends decision to commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence
President Barack Obama defended his decision to shorten the sentence of convicted leaker Chelsea Manning during his final news conference on Wednesday, two days before his second term ends.
Manning was among 273 people granted clemency Tuesday by Obama. The former Army intelligence analyst asked Obama last November to commute her 35-year sentence for giving classified government and military documents to the WikiLeaks website. Manning, who was known as Bradley Manning at the time of her 2010 arrest, is more than six years into the sentence. She is to be released from prison in May. Republicans blasted the decision to commute Manning's sentence, with House Speaker Paul Ryan calling it "outrageous" and saying Obama had set a "dangerous precedent" that anyone guilty of compromising U.S. national security will no longer have to pay for their crimes.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest previewed Obama's line of defense, saying in television interviews Wednesday morning that the amount of time Manning had served was consistent with sentences imposed on others found guilty of committing similar crimes.
One name missing from the list of pardons and commutations the White House announced Tuesday is U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The former prisoner of war is accused of endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan, and has asked Obama for a pardon. A pardon would allow Bergdahl to avert a military trial scheduled for April. He faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. The misbehavior charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
At the conference, Obama addressed the role of the free press in a functioning democracy, U.S. relations with Russia and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among other topics. He also stressed that he would not be running for office any time soon.
Guest host Frank Stoltze checks in to analyze Obama’s statements and his defense of Chelsea Manning’s shortened sentence.
With AP Files.
Guest:
Cathleen Decker, politics reporter for the LA Times, who is in DC today covering the presser; she tweets
Tom Price’s confirmation hearing for HHS
Guest host Frank Stoltze checks in with Bloomberg reporter Anna Edney, who’s been following the confirmation hearing of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price.
Price has been a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act.
Guest:
Anna Edney, health reporter for Bloomberg News, who’s been following Tom Price’s confirmation hearing; she has also been live-tweeting the hearing
What President George Washington’s 1796 farewell address can tell us about our country now
It used to be one of the most widely read political documents in the country, but President George Washington’s farewell address has now become largely forgotten by the public.
With the help of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, Washington laid out what he saw were the forces that threatened the nation: hyper-partisanship, foreign influence on our government, excessive debt, to name a few. Sounds familiar?
In the new book, “Washington’s Farewell,” author and Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon revisits this important piece of writing to draw inspiration for how we can heal our country today.
Guest:
John Avlon, editor-in-chief of the news site, “The Daily Beast” and author of the book, “Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations” (Simon & Schuster, 2017)