Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison

On Wednesday, a military judged sentenced Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for providing over 250,000 classified documents, including information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to Wikileaks. The 25 years-old private has been dishonorably discharged.

Judge Army Col. Denise Lind noted that Manning has 1,293 days of detention credit to consider.

The announcement came less than a month after Manning was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges against him, including espionage.

Earlier this month, Manning apologized for "hurting" the United States. "I want to start off with an apology. I am sorry. I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I am sorry that it hurt the United States," the private said.

Over the course of the investigation and trial, Manning became a controversial figure within the LGBTQ community. In an essay for Out, James Kirchick wrote that Manning was no gay hero.

"While it's true that Manning did struggle because of his sexuality, so did many other gay soldiers who once labored under DADT's onerous restrictions. The vast majority of them did not act out their emotional problems by leaking classified material to individuals with an explicit agenda of harming the interests of the United States and its allies."

Manning's lawyer is expected to address the press at 1:30 p.m.