Chelsea Manning, the soldier who spent seven years in prison for leaking sensitive documents to WikiLeaks, could face prosecution over her run for Senate office in Maryland, The Daily Caller reported.
Manning remains on active-duty status while she is appealing a general court martial. She must remain on active duty until the appeal is complete, ABC News reported in May 2017, which could be an issue for her candidacy, former military lawyers told The Daily Caller.
Dru Brenner-Beck, retired Army judge advocate general and president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said Department of Defense regulations prohibit her from running while on active duty. The only exception, Brenner-Beck said, is if Secretary of Defense James Mattis grants her permission.
Prosecution of the issue, however, is a "discretionary decision by her chain of command," Brenner-Beck said.
Victor M. Hansen, New England Law professor and former military lawyer, said that Manning was an exceptional case that would not likely inspire other active duty service members to run for office.
Manning's chain of command could be pressured into prosecuting her, Hansen said, but he believes that the Army is likely to want the Manning issue to fade out of the spotlight, instead of having an investigation which would spotlight the case further.
Then-President Barack Obama commuted Manning's sentence in January 2017.
In her run for the Senate, Manning would be challenging incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland.
"Senator Cardin is looking forward to a vigorous debate of the issues and a robust conversation with Maryland voters," Cardin's spokeswoman Sue Walitsky said in The Washington Post.
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