Just a hunch, but I think the author of that article might have deleted that statement.  It was misinformation. Manning was not pardoned, Obama commuted her sentence. January 17, 2017	 On this day, Obama commuted the sentence of 209 individuals (109 of whom faced life sentences).[2] These included Chelsea Manning and Oscar López Rivera, enabling them to be released from prison on May 17, 2017.[17][18] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Barack_Obama