Trump surrenders at Atlanta jail on fees he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
Former President Donald Trump surrendered Thursday on fees that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute reserving that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
He was launched on $200,000 bond and headed again to the airport for his return flight dwelling to New Jersey.
Trump’s give up to legislation enforcement authorities has grow to be by now a well-recognized election-season routine in a means that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president being booked, in 4 completely different cities, on felony legal fees.
However his go to to Atlanta was notably completely different from the three previous surrenders, unfolding at evening and requiring him to go to a problem-plagued jail — slightly than a courthouse — and never in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington however slightly within the coronary heart of a battleground state important to the 2024 presidential election. And in contrast to in different cities that didn’t require him to pose for a mug shot, a reserving photograph of him was taken, based on an individual aware of the proceedings.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly after 7 p.m. and was pushed, by the town’s rush-hour visitors, to jail for the reserving course of. Sporting his signature white shirt and pink tie, he supplied a wave and thumbs up as he descended the steps of his personal airplane.
He accomplished the method in 20 minutes, offering officers as is customary together with his bodily measurements: 6 foot 3 inches. 215 kilos. Strawberry or blond hair.
The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth legal case towards Trump since March, when he grew to become the primary former president in U.S. historical past to be indicted. Since then, he’s confronted federal fees in Florida and Washington, and this month he was indicted in Atlanta with 18 others — together with his ex-chief of employees, Mark Meadows, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — underneath a racketeering statute usually related to gang members and arranged crime.
Giuliani surrendered on Wednesday and posed for a mug shot. Meadows, who had sought to keep away from having to show himself in whereas he seeks to maneuver the case to federal court docket, turned himself in Thursday. Bond was set at $100,000.
The legal circumstances have spurred a succession of bookings and arraignments, with Trump making transient court docket appearances earlier than returning to the 2024 marketing campaign path. He’s turned the appearances into marketing campaign occasions amid a far lighter schedule than his rivals, with employees delighting in wall-to-wall media protection that has included information helicopters monitoring his each transfer.
The marketing campaign has additionally used the appearances to solicit fundraising contributions from his supporters as aides paint the costs as a part of a politically motivated effort to wreck his reelection possibilities. As Trump was en route from New Jersey to Atlanta, his marketing campaign despatched a message saying, “I’m writing to you from Trump Power One, on my approach to Atlanta the place I can be ARRESTED regardless of having dedicated NO CRIME.”
As afternoon turned to night, scores of Trump supporters had gathered outdoors the jail the place the ex-president was to give up, some waving flags with Trump’s identify, as officers tightened safety measures.
District Lawyer Fani Willis has given all the defendants till Friday afternoon to show themselves in on the foremost Fulton County jail. On Thursday, her workplace proposed an October 23 trial date, although the complexities of the 19-person case — and potential scheduling conflicts with different Trump prosecutions — would seem to make all of it however not possible. The date appeared to be a response to early authorized maneuvering by no less than one defendant, Kenneth Chesebro, who requested a speedy trial.
Simply forward of his anticipated give up, Trump employed a brand new lead legal professional for the Georgia case.
Outstanding Atlanta legal protection legal professional Steve Sadow took the place of one other high-profile legal protection legal professional, Drew Findling, who had represented Trump as not too long ago as Monday when his bond phrases have been negotiated. However by Thursday Findling was not a part of the staff, based on an individual with data of the change who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate the matter publicly.
Sadow, who has represented a rapper, Gunna, who pleaded responsible final 12 months in a racketeering case additionally introduced by Willis, stated in an announcement that “the president ought to by no means have been indicted. He’s harmless of all the costs introduced towards him.”
“We look ahead to the case being dismissed or, if obligatory, an unbiased, open minded jury discovering the president not responsible,” he added. “Prosecutions supposed to advance or serve the ambitions and careers of political opponents of the president don’t have any place in our justice system.”
It’s not the primary time this 12 months that Trump has shaken up his authorized staff both within the run-up to an indictment or within the fast aftermath. One in all his lead attorneys, Tim Parlatore, left the authorized staff weeks earlier than Trump was indicted in Florida on fees of illegally hoarding labeled paperwork, citing conflicts with a prime Trump adviser. Two different attorneys, James Trusty and John Rowley, introduced their resignations the morning after that indictment was returned.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He stated in a social media publish this week that he was being prosecuted for what he described in capital letters as a “good cellphone name” by which he requested the Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to assist him “discover 11,780 votes” for him to overturn his loss within the state to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump is predicted to show himself in on the Fulton County jail, which has lengthy been a troubled facility. The Justice Division final month opened a civil rights investigation into circumstances, citing filthy cells, violence and the dying final 12 months of a person whose physique was discovered coated in bugs in the primary jail’s psychiatric wing. Three folks have died in Fulton County custody previously month.
However Trump isn’t anticipated to spend a lot time there.
His attorneys and prosecutors have already agreed to a $200,000 bond, plus circumstances that embrace barring the previous president from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses or victims within the case.
When defendants arrive on the jail, they sometimes cross by a safety checkpoint earlier than checking in for formal reserving within the foyer. Through the reserving course of, defendants are sometimes photographed and fingerprinted and requested to offer sure private info. Since Trump’s bond has already been set, he can be launched from custody as soon as the reserving course of is full.
In contrast to in different jurisdictions, in Fulton County, arraignments — by which a defendant seems in court docket for the primary time — usually occur after a defendant surrenders on the jail and completes the reserving course of, not on the identical day. Which means Trump might should make two journeys to Georgia within the coming weeks although the Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace has stated some arraignments within the case could occur nearly if the choose permits, or he might waive Trump’s arraignment.
Story by Eric Tucker, Kate Brumback and Jill Colvin, The Related Press. Tucker reported from Washington, Colvin from New York. Related Press author Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this report.
