- Trump is scheduled to surrender for booking at Fulton County jail and be released on $200,000 bond, for which he must post 10%.
- Trump faces 13 charges, including racketeering, soliciting state officials to violate their oaths of office, making false statements and conspiring to recruit alternate presidential electors.
ATLANTA − Donald Trump is expected to surrender Thursday at a Georgia jail on charges he tried to steal the 2020 election, the fourth criminal case he faces while campaigning for president next year.
Trump’s lawyers reached an agreement Monday for him to be released pending trial after posting 10% of a $200,000 bond. Conditions of his release include not threatening or intimidating witnesses, including on social media, or communicating with co-defendants except through their lawyers.
Trump is one of 19 defendants in the indictment that alleges racketeering by a criminal organization that tried to overturn the election results. Local authorities said Trump would be treated like any other defendant.
But the processing contrasts to his three other cases, in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., where he was processed at a courthouse during the same trip when he entered a formal plea to charges. Trump’s Georgia arraignment is expected the week of Sept. 5.
Here is what we know about the case:
US House chairman questions motivation, timing behind Trump indictment
The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee wrote Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday to ask about motivations and timing of the indictment of Donald Trump, with charges against 18 co-defendants and 30 unindicted co-conspirators.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Willis launched a fundraising website four days before the indictment was handed up, promoting her investigation into Trump. A county clerk inadvertently released the charges against Trump before the grand jury voted. And a judge barred Willis from investigating Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the case because she held a fundraiser for his political opponent.
“The timing of this prosecution reinforces concerns about your motivation,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan also questioned the timing of the indictment. Willis began her investigation in February 2021 and brought charges two and a half years later. She proposed the trial begin March 4, eight days before Georgia’s primary, when Trump is running for president and Willis is running for reelection.
“It is therefore unsurprising many have speculated that this indictment and prosecution are designed to interfere with the 2024 presidential election,” Jordan said.
Jordan asked Willis to provide information by Sept. 7 about federal funding to her office and communications with Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who also charged Trump with interfering with the 2020 election.
Legal experts and House Democrats argued Jordan was interfering with a local prosecution when he wrote a similar letter to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump with falsifying business records.
–Bart Jansen
Rudy Giuliani’s surrender demonstrated how Trump’s arrest could be chaotic
Rudy Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former federal prosecutor who was indicted with him, attracted a throng of reporters and a crowd of protesters supporting or opposing the charges when he surrendered at the Fulton County jail.
Giuliani’s political strategist, Ted Goodman, signaled to reporters he would give an impromptu statement after being booked. But he attempted to hold the gaggle in the middle of a two-lane street, which would have blocked traffic in an area sheriff’s deputies spent hours trying to keep clear.
Residents near the jail demanded vehicles be towed for parking along the neighborhood streets. One resident was so fed up with the national spotlight he screamed at people to leave the area while driving up the tiny road. The loudspeaker of a deputy’s SUV blared orders for reporters to disperse.
Giuliani’s team found another location, but reporters, protesters and body guards swarmed him before he took two paces out of his SUV.
“This indictment is a travesty,” Giuliani said, as city crew workers began setting up portable toilets for tomorrow when Trump’s booking is expected to bring an even larger crowd.
– Phillip M. Bailey
