The Slatest

Slatest PM: Bradley Manning Says Sorry

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U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning (C) arrives at a military court facility for the sentencing phase of his trial August 14, 2013 in Fort Meade, Maryland

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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Manning Says He’s Sorry: Associated Press newsbreak: “Bradley Manning has taken the stand during his sentencing hearing for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks and has apologized for hurting the United States and others. Manning gave an unsworn statement Wednesday, which means he cannot be cross-examined by prosecutors. He began with an apology. … “I’m sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that it hurt the United States.” Manning says he understood what he was doing and the decisions he made. However, he says he did not believe at the time that leaking the information would cause harm. Manning faces up to 90 years in prison for the leaks.”

Refresher: CNN: “Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges against him, and he could face up to 90 years in prison if the judge imposes the maximum sentence. But Col. Denise Lind, the judge in the case, has already shown she’s not inclined to throw the book at him. She found him not guilty of the most serious charge against him – aiding the enemy – and after she rendered a verdict, she granted a defense motion that decreased the maximum penalty Manning faced from 136 years in prison to 90 years.”

Gender Confusion: NBC News: “Manning showed signs of behavioral disorders that got worse when he felt stress, and during deployment in Iraq he was considering whether to live as a woman, a military psychiatrist testified Wednesday. The psychiatrist, Army Cmdr. David Moulton, testified … that Manning had a troubled childhood, with two alcoholic parents, and grew up neglected. In basic training, Manning was seen for ‘tantrum fits of rage,’ the commander said. That behavior grew worse with stress, and culminated with an incident in Iraq in April 2010, when Manning was found curled in a ball, clutching a knife, and then lashed out, striking a fellow soldier, he said.”

It’s Wednesday, welcome to the Slatest PM. Follow your afternoon host on Twitter at@JoshVoorhees and the whole team at @Slatest.

Chaos in Cairo: Reuters: “Egyptian security forces crushed a protest camp of thousands of supporters of the deposed president on Wednesday, shooting dead scores of people in the bloodiest day in decades in the Arab world’s most populous country. The health ministry said 149 people were killed, both in Cairo and in clashes that broke out elsewhere in the country. Deposed President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood said the death toll was far higher in what it described as a ‘massacre.’ While dead bodies wrapped in carpets were carried to a makeshift morgue near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, the army-backed rulers declared a one-month state of emergency, restoring to the military the unfettered power it wielded for decades before a pro-democracy uprising in 2011.”

VP Resigns: US News: “[Vice President] Mohamed ElBaradei submitted a letter of resignation on Wednesday to interim President Adly Mansour, the former head of the Supreme Constitutional Court who has taken over control of the country following military action that deposed Morsi in early July. Mansor had named ElBaradei as his deputy for foreign relations. ElBaradei wrote he is not willing to accept responsibility for ‘one drop of blood’ following two fatal police assaults on sit-in camps of Morsi supporters. Violence will only produce more violence, he said, warning of the increased polarization of the Arab state.”

U.S. Weighs In: Washington Post: “The United States strongly condemned the violence and expressed opposition to the state of emergency. It said it would hold the interim government accountable for keeping its promises of a speedy transition to a democratically elected civilian administration.”

Slatest: Watch as Protesters Toss an Armored Vehicle Off a Bridge

Jesse Jackson Jr. Sentenced: Chicago Tribune: “Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced today to 30 months behind bars and his wife, Sandi, got a year in prison for separate felonies involving the misspending of about $750,000 in campaign funds. The Jacksons will be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time, with Jackson Jr. going first, based on the wishes of the family as expressed by Dan Webb, an attorney for Sandi Jackson. Jackson Jr. will report to prison on or after Nov. 1, the judge said. In addition to the 2.5 years in prison, Jackson Jr. was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Sandi Jackson was ordered to serve 12 months of supervised release following her prison term.”

UPS Plane Crash: CBS News: “UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala., killing two people. April Odom, a spokeswoman for Birmingham Mayor William Bell, confirmed to CBS News that two bodies were found in the wreckage. Earlier, UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford said there were two crew members aboard the plane, and Bell said the two crewmembers on board were the pilot and the co-pilot. … The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane was en route from Louisville, Ky. In a statement, Airbus said the twin-engine aircraft was built in 2003 and had accumulated approximately 11,000 flight hours over about 6,800 flights. Herrera-Bast said the plane crashed in ‘open land’ she described as a grassy field on the outskirts of the airport. The crash hasn’t affected airport operations, she said.”

RIP, Jack Germond: New York Times: “Germond, the portly, cantankerous columnist and pundit who covered 10 presidential elections and sparred with colleagues on TV’s The McLaughlin Group, has died. He was 85. … With Jules Witcover, Germond co-wrote five syndicated columns a week for nearly 25 years, most of that time spent at The (Baltimore) Evening Sun until it went out of business and then The (Baltimore) Sun. He was in many ways emblematic of his generation of Washington journalists: He was friendly with the politicians he covered, and he cultivated relationships with political insiders during late-night poker games and whiskey-fueled bull sessions. … Later in his career, Germond became arguably the best known of the ‘Boys [on the Bus],’ thanks to his irascible appearances on The McLaughlin Group, where he offered a liberal alternative to conservative host John McLaughlin and fellow panelist Robert D. Novak.”

A Few More Quick Hits From Slate—

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