as chelsea manning was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for giving the documents to wikileaks. just before leaving office president obama ordered manning to be released in may of this year. the sentence that she received was very disproportionate relative to what other leakers have received. reporter: but there s been no presidential reprieve for edward sn snowden, the form earp nsa contractor whose 2013 revelation of secret government surveillance programs left him fleeing charges of espionage. this guy is a bad guy and, you know, there is still a thing called execution. reporter: and accepting asylum in, of all places, russia. our anderson cooper repo reporting. i want to bring in now cnn senior media correspondent and host of reliable sources brian. leaks have revealed some very important developments in our history and have really been news. how difficult is it for the