Transgender former intel agent Chelsea Manning arrested for occupying Capitol Hill women's room with trans activists

Chelsea Manning, the infamous military intelligence leaker, was arrested on Thursday for illegally occupying a women's restroom at the US Capitol complex. Manning, 36, a trans-identified biological male, was among dozens of trans activists protesting House Speaker Mike Johnson's new rule that prohibits men from using female restrooms on US Capitol grounds.

US Capitol Police told the New York Post that officers arrested 15 people "for illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office building," a demonstration that violated "DC Code § 22-1307 - crowding, obstructing, or incommoding."

In 2013, Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking confidential military intelligence material to WikiLeaks. Manning was released from prison in 2017 after President Barack Obama commuted Manning's sentence. While imprisoned, Manning underwent gender reassignment treatments and started to identify as a woman named "Chelsea." Manning was born as a biological male named Bradley.

Demonstrators organized an occupation inside the women's restroom near Speaker Johnson's office, expressing their outrage at Johnson and Mace. Some of the signs they brandished while chanting at the politicians said "Congress Stop Pissing On Our Rights" and "Flush Bathroom Bigotry."

Rep. Mace, who has remained steadfast in safeguarding female-only spaces amid repeated threats from radical trans activists, quipped at the group on X and mocked them outside the police station with a blowhorn. "From leaking state secrets to taking leaks in women's restroom, just can't seem to get it right," she wrote, particularly aiming at Manning.

The ongoing debacle began when Rep. Mace said she would be introducing a resolution that sought to prohibit men who identify as transgender from using female facilities inside the Capitol, citing the recent election of transgender Delaware rep-elect Sara McBride (D). Shortly after, Speaker Johnson adopted a resolution requiring bathrooms at the Capitol to be for same-sex use.