alt Hacker NewsPardoning Manning while still going hard after Assange was a new level of pandering to the LGBTQ lobby. Pretty disgusting in its own right, I agree.
Pardoning Manning while still going hard after Assange was a new level of pandering to the LGBTQ lobby. Pretty disgusting in its own right, I agree.
I disagree that it was pandering to the LGBTQ lobby.
I agree Assange should not have been pursued at all.
You can't directly compare the two situations. Manning was a US citizen, serving a sentence in the US. During Obama's term, Assange was not yet accused of any crime in the US, so there was no presidential pardon to be had, though Obama could have dropped the extradition request.
Biden did eventually reach a deal with Assange that allowed him to count time served -- essentially the same as commuting a sentence, so along the lines of what Manning got -- and return to Australia.
So in the end, Assange and Manning were both freed after serving time.