Former President Donald Trump to Surrender on Charges in Georgia Election Case
Washington, CNN – Former President Donald Trump is set to surrender on Thursday to be booked on more than a dozen charges related to his attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, marking the fourth time this year that he has faced criminal charges. Trump is expected to travel from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club to Atlanta to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail.
Similar to his co-defendants, Trump’s processing through the facility is anticipated to be swift as he and his lawyers negotiated a consent bond agreement ahead of Thursday. Under the agreement, Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond and various release conditions, including refraining from using social media to target co-defendants and witnesses involved in the case.
Trump’s surrender in Georgia marks the fourth occasion this year in which he has turned himself in to either local or federal officials after facing criminal charges, a sequence of events previously unseen in the United States before 2023. In April, he was booked in New York on state charges related to a hush money scheme. In June, he surrendered in Miami to face charges in special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the mishandling of classified documents. Earlier this month, Trump was arrested in Washington, DC, and arraigned on charges brought by Smith in his investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who initiated the extensive racketeering case last week following an extensive investigation, has requested that Trump and the other 18 defendants be arraigned next month. Defendants have until noon on Friday to surrender.
Among the defendants who have already surrendered are former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, who were booked on Wednesday, as well as John Eastman, another ex-Trump attorney who turned himself in on Tuesday.
In the indictment handed up last week, Willis charged Trump with 13 counts, including racketeering, conspiracy charges, and soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office. The racketeering charge in the Georgia case, which was brought against all 19 defendants, accuses them of being part of a broad “criminal enterprise” that attempted to overturn the 2020 election result in the Peach State.
Trump falsely claimed victory after the 2020 election and then endeavored to overturn the results not only in Georgia but in other states as well. Through a series of phone calls, he pressured Georgia election officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to assist his efforts. In addition, Trump’s campaign filed meritless lawsuits in an attempt to nullify the results in Georgia and persuaded state legislators to discard Joe Biden’s legitimate electoral votes and replace them with GOP electors.
When these tactics failed, Trump’s campaign attempted to present a slate of fabricated pro-Trump electors. Moreover, he pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to recognize these illegitimate GOP electors while presiding over the Electoral College certification in Congress on January 6, 2021.
As the legal proceedings continue, the surrender of Donald Trump in Georgia underscores the gravity of the charges against him and the complexities surrounding the investigation into his attempts to subvert the democratic process in the 2020 election.