Obama: Manning 'Broke the Law'

Politico reports:

President Barack Obama’s assertion at a recent California fundraiser that Bradley Manning “broke the law” may have run afoul of presidential protocol, according to legal analysts who have been tracking the case of the Army private charged in the WikiLeaks case.

“I have to abide by certain classified information,” Obama said on a video that quickly began to circulate among media outlets Friday. “If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law. … We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate. … He broke the law.”

Obama’s remarks Thursday were made after a group of protesters interrupted him with a song pleading for Manning’s release. Obama had completed his speech and was circulating through the room when Logan Price, a 27-year-old activist, said he went up to the president and asked why he hadn’t addressed the concerns of the protesters.

“I thought that Bradley Manning was the most important whistleblower of my generation,” Price said in an interview. “I was just disappointed that he didn’t talk about it during his speech.”

Until now, the biggest point of controversy surrounding Manning had been about the conditions under which he was being detained at a marine base in Quantico, Va. Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley offered his resignation after criticizing the Defense Department’s treatment of Manning, and Obama’s only comments about the accused whistleblower had been about that issue.

“I have actually asked the Pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are,” Obama told reporters at a news conference in March. “I can’t go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning’s safety as well.”

But the president’s comment that Manning “broke the law” drew immediate fire from some tracking Manning’s case.

“The comment was not appropriate because it assumes that Manning is guilty,” Steven Aftergood, a classified information expert at the Federation of American Scientists, told Politico. “The president got carried away and misspoke. No one should mistake a charge for a conviction — especially the nation’s highest official.”