The widow of the Orlando nightclub gunman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of aiding and abetting her husband’s support of the Islamic State group and hindering the investigation of the attack that killed 49 people and injured 53 others.
Noor Salman, 30, entered her plea in an Oakland, California, courtroom two days after she was taken into custody at the home she shared with her mother in suburban San Francisco.
Her arrest came after she was interviewed numerous times by FBI agents investigating the June 12 attack in Florida.
Federal prosecutor Roger Handberg said in court Tuesday that Salman knew about the plan by her husband Omar Mateen to attack the gay nightclub and then lied to investigators after it was over. Mateen was killed at the scene by authorities.
Handberg declined further comment on the indictment outside court, and no further details of the charges have been disclosed.
Salman will return to court Feb. 1 to argue for her release pending trial on the counts that could result in a life sentence if she is convicted.
Salman’s uncle Al Salman has defended his niece, saying she is an innocent person who was physically and mentally abused by Mateen.
He said she remained in the marriage because she feared losing custody of the couple’s 4-year-old boy.
Noor Salman was living with Mateen in Fort Pierce, Florida when he proclaimed his allegiance to Islamic State and attacked the nightclub.
The indictment charges her with aiding and abetting Mateen in providing material support and resources to Islamic State between April and June of last year. She was also charged with obstruction, accused of misleading and lying to police and the FBI during their investigation.
Charles Swift, her lead attorney, declined comment Wednesday outside court. He is director of the Texas-based Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America,
Salman told The New York Times in an interview published in November that she knew her husband had watched jihadist videos but that she was « unaware of everything » regarding his intent to shoot up the club. Salman also said he had physically abused her.

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President Barack Obama Wednesday defended his decision to commute the sentence of transgender army private Chelsea Manning, who was jailed for 35 years for handing classified US documents to WikiLeaks.
Obama was addressing his final presidential news conference a day after he pardoned 64 people and commuted the sentences of 209 others — including Manning, who will now be released in May — in one of his last acts in office.
« With respect to Chelsea Manning I looked at the particulars in this case the same way I have with the other commutations I have done and pardons I have done and felt in light of all the circumstances that commuting her sentence was entirely appropriate, » Obama said.
Manning was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offenses, after admitting to the leak of 700,000 sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
« It has been my view that given she went to trial, that due process was carried out, that she took responsibility for her crime, that the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers had received and that she had served a significant amount of time, that it made sense to commute and not pardon her sentence, » Obama said
« Let’s be clear, Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence, » the president added. « I feel very comfortable that justice has been served.  »
The cache of documents leaked by Manning included military logs from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic cables offering sensitive — and often embarrassingly blunt — assessments of foreign leaders and world events.
Manning pleaded guilty and was sentenced by military court martial. She has since been held in an all-male prison, at times in solitary confinement, and has attempted to commit suicide twice.
Activists had argued her sentence is excessive and point to the psychological frailty of the transgender soldier.

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US defence secretary Ash Carter opposed the decision to commute the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of espionage for leaking classified information while deployed in Iraq.
He told The Associated Press: « That was not my recommendation.
« I recommended against that, but the president has made his decision.  »
President Barack Obama has drawn intense criticism from members of Congress and others for the decision he made on Tuesday.
He commuted Manning’s 35-year prison sentence to about seven years, including the time she spent locked up before she was convicted. Her sentence is now set to expire on May 17.
At the time Manning committed the crimes she was known as Bradley Manning and was serving as an Army private.
In 2013 a judge convicted Manning of 20 counts, including six Espionage Act violations, theft and computer fraud.
She was sentenced to 35 years out of a possible maximum of 90. She was acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, which carries a possible life sentence.
The now 29-year-old native of Crescent, Oklahoma, leaked more than 700,000 classified Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and diplomatic cables in 2010 while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.
Manning also leaked a 2007 video clip of a US helicopter crew killing at least nine men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.
The Pentagon later concluded the helicopter crew acted appropriately, having mistaken the camera equipment for weapons.
At a White House news conference in Wednesday, Mr Obama firmly defended his Manning decision, arguing she had served a « tough prison sentence » already.
The president said his decision took into account the fact that Manning had gone to trial, taken responsibility for her crime and received a sentence that he said was harsher than other leakers had received.
He emphasised that he had commuted her sentence, not granted a pardon, which would have symbolically forgiven her for the crime.
« I feel very comfortable that justice has been served, » Mr Obama said.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Mr Obama’s decision was a mistake and called the convicted leaker a « traitor ».
Mr Pence said that Manning’s actions compromised national security, endangered American personnel and compromised individuals in Afghanistan who were co-operating with US forces.
One name missing from the list of pardons and commutations the White House announced on Tuesday is US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
The former prisoner of war is accused of endangering comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, and has asked Mr Obama for a pardon. He was captured by the Taliban and held prisoner for five years.
A pardon would allow Bergdahl to avert a military trial scheduled for April. He faces charges of desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. The misbehaviour charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Asked about the Bergdahl case, Mr Carter told the AP: « That one hasn’t come to me yet in any way. It’s a law enforcement matter, so I really can’t comment on it.  »
AP

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A Chicago police officer has been charged with first-degree murder after the off-duty shooting of a 38-year-old unarmed man earlier this month.
Authorities say Lowell Houser was off-duty when he became involved in a confrontation with Jose Nieves on Jan. 2. Police later said Nieves did not have a weapon.
Howell is a 28-year veteran and is appear for a bond hearing Thursday. He has been stripped of his police powers.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has said the officer and Nieves were involved in a prior confrontation.
The charge comes days after the U. S. Justice Department released a scathing report on the Chicago Police Department, concluding it frequently used excessive force.
In recent days, an officer was charged for felony criminal sexual assault against an underage girl.

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