Ex-hostage Bergdahl spared prison time

Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier and former Taliban captive branded a "traitor" by President Donald Trump, will serve no time in prison for deserting his post in Afghanistan, a military judge decided Friday. Colonel Jeffery Nance ordered Bergdahl to be dishonorably discharged, have his rank slashed from sergeant to private and pay a $10,000 fine. Bergdahl had faced up to life in prison after pleading guilty to charges of desertion and endangering his fellow troops when he abandoned his unit in a small camp in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. He was captured shortly thereafter by the Taliban. He was finally freed in a 2014 exchange for five Taliban fighters.