{"id":48758,"date":"2017-09-17T20:05:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T20:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/17\/chelsea-manning-i-believe-i-did-the-best-i-could\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:02:37","slug":"chelsea-manning-i-believe-i-did-the-best-i-could","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/2017\/09\/17\/chelsea-manning-i-believe-i-did-the-best-i-could\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Manning draws mixed reviews at \u2018creative thinkers\u2019 conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NANTUCKET, Mass. \u2014 Chelsea Manning told a crowd at a \u201ccreative thinkers\u201d conference in Nantucket that she\u2019s not a traitor as her critics have claimed and she did what she thought was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manning is attending the annual conference for The Nantucket Project on Sunday in Massachusetts. The Nantucket Project is a venture founded to bring together creative thinkers to uncover the ideas that matter most. Organizers say about 600 people are attending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is only Manning\u2019s second public appearance since being released from a military prison in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe I did the best I could in my circumstances to make an ethical decision,\u201d she told the crowd when they asked if she was a traitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 29-year-old Manning is a transgender woman who was known as Bradley Manning when she was convicted in 2013 of leaking a trove of classified documents. She was released from a military prison in May after serving seven years of a 35-year sentence, which was commuted by President Barack Obama in his final days in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\t