THE White House considered that classified information leaked by whistleblower Bradley Manning to Julian Assange's Wikileaks organisation was of a "rather benign nature" and not "of any real damage to national security", according to court documents filed yesterday by the jailed US Army private's lawyer.
Attorney David E Coombs is preparing for the 23-year-old Manning's pre-trial hearing which takes place on December 16. Coombs claims that the 750,000 cables and reports that his client passed on to Wikileaks were of limited severity and that internal government investigations will prove this.
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