Manning ordered to appear before grand jury

In this April 18, 2018, file photo, Chelsea Manning addresses participants at an anti-fracking rally in Baltimore. Convicted classified document leaker Chelsea Manning will not be allowed to enter Australia for a speaking tour scheduled to start on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018.   | Photo Credit:Ranvijay

This could be linked to WikiLeaks case

Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. soldier jailed for a massive leak of U.S. secrets to Wikileaks, has been ordered to appear before a grand jury, her lawyer said on Friday.

Moira Meltzer-Cohen said she had not been told what the grand jury was investigating, but U.S. media have speculated that it might involve the criminal case against WikiLeaks being developed by federal prosecutors in Virginia. Ms. Meltzer-Cohen said Ms. Manning had filed a motion to challenge the subpoena, which was immediately put under seal in the mysterious case. “I object strenuously to this subpoena, and to the grand jury process in general,” Ms. Manning, 31, said in a statement.

Grand juries, only used in the U.S. and Liberia, are groups of citizens operating separately from courts who investigate whether to bring criminal charges. They can compel witnesses and suspects to testify. Ms. Manning is scheduled to appear in front of the grand jury on Tuesday.

The New York Times and Politico both speculated it was related to the U.S. investigation of WikiLeaks in relation to its publication of Democratic campaign secrets in 2016 that the U.S. government says were hacked by Russian intelligence.