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Donald Trump has been pardoned for his “hush money” conviction, evading any punishment related to his landmark criminal case days before returning to the White House.
At a hearing in Manhattan on Friday Trump After appearing virtually from his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Judge Juan Merchan declined to sentence the president-elect to prison or impose any fines, instead releasing him on “unconditional release.”
The lawsuit attracted little of the media frenzy that accompanied Trump's seven-week impeachment trial last year, which took place in the midst of his third presidential campaign. It marks a symbolic end to a years-long attempt by state and federal prosecutors to convict Trump of a number of alleged crimes, from trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election to keeping secret documents after his previous departure from the White House.
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