Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.

As President Obama's time ticks down, so do some of the sagas that helped define his administration. In 2010, a young intelligence analyst in Iraq named Bradley Manning leaked 251,287 U.S. diplomatic cables, and 482,832 Army reports, as well as videos of a number of airstrikes. It amounted to a treasure trove of documents released to Wikileaks that made the site a 21st century enemy of the state.

Bradley Manning, who changed her name to Chelsea Manning as part of her gender transition, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 — the longest sentence ever imposed for disclosing government secrets. But yesterday, the Obama Administration announced that it would commute Manning's sentence, along with 209 others.

Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and a law professor at the University of St. Thomas where he runs the country’s first law school clinic for commutations, joins The Takeaway to discuss Manning's case, and the precedent it sets for future leakers.