Former President Donald Trump surrendered at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday evening and booked on more than a dozen charges stemming from what prosecutors say were efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
He arrived for his booking at 7:30pm, escorted by a Secret Service entourage at least a dozen black cars deep and a motorcade of law enforcement officials after traveling on his private jet from his residence in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Afterward, he made brief – and defiant – remarks.
“If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge the election. I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election. And I should have every right to do that,” he said before boarding his plane. “What has taken place here is a travesty of justice. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.”
Throngs of Trump’s supporters and critics alike gathered early in the morning behind barricades in the parking lot across from the infamous jail ahead of the former president’s arrival, holding signs, shouting from megaphones and waving flags.
Converging with the heavy media presence and tight security, it was all but certainly the media circus Trump had hoped it would be in the wake of the first GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday evening, which the former president chose to sit out, citing his record-setting lead in polling.
Trump and 18 of his closest allies are being charged in a sweeping racketeering scheme, which involved spreading conspiracy theories, pressuring elected officials and propping up fake electors to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia in a desperate effort to remain in power despite having lost the presidency in a free and fair vote.
The charges follow a two-year investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The indictment marks the fourth set of criminal charges against Trump, who now faces a cumulative 91 felony counts in New York state court for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, in federal court in Florida for mishandling classified documents, in federal court in the District of Columbia for his efforts to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and incite a violent insurrection at the Capitol and now in Georgia.
Sheriff Pat Labat maintained that Trump would be treated like anyone else accused of a crime by a grand jury – and by all accounts he was. The booking process has become somewhat commonplace for Trump, even though it remains unprecedented among former presidents.
But unlike his other surrenders, this one included a photograph – a mugshot that became a part of American history the second the shutter clicked as the first former U.S. president was captured through the lens. The photo is set to be released by the county sheriff’s office on Friday.
Trump, who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing in all the cases against him and continues to repeat unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen.” In reality, Trump lost the general election to Biden, and, in Georgia specifically, he lost by some 11,779 votes.
Trump, in his remarks, repeated claims that his indictments are an attempt by Democrats and the so-called “deep state” to undermine his candidacy for president.
“What they're doing is election interference. They're trying to interfere with an election,” he said. “There’s never been anything like it in our country before. This is their way of campaigning.”
The conditions for his release, which were set last week, include a $200,000 bond and strict conditions on his social media use. Among other things, he must not violate any laws in Georgia or elsewhere, he must appear in court as directed, he must not communicate about the facts of the case with fellow co-defendants – except through his legal team – and he must not intimidate co-defendants or witnesses.
Hours before his surrender, Trump replaced one of his leading attorneys, Drew Findling, with Steve Sadow, a widely respected criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta who recently defended a rapper in a racketeering case. Shadow has long criticized Georgia prosecutors for overusing the state’s RICO law.
The sudden change in defense came as a surprise – though not entirely out of character for Trump, who has been burning through attorneys in recent months as his legal challenges mount.
At least 12 of Trump’s 18 co-defendants have surrendered already, including Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, former U.S. acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark and Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, had sought to delay his surrender date until a decision was made on his request to move his charges to federal court and dismiss the indictment altogether. But a federal judge on Wednesday denied him an extension.
The handful of other co-defendants who have yet to surrender have until noon on Friday before Willis issues warrants for their arrests.
Willis initially proposed that the trial begin on March 4 – adding to an already busy legal calendar for Trump heading into the 2024 election. But the former president is seeking to delay the case for as long as possible, including by lengthy pre-trial motions and a petition to move the charges to a federal court. Legal experts say Willis' timeline is likely untenable – though she did file a motion on Thursday to move up the timeline for the trial to Oct. 23 after one of the co-defendants filed a request for a speedy trial.
B | 3个小时！300多公里！从黑夜一直到天明，终于迎来了抓捕时机。上午7时许，该团伙的车辆行驶至杭州萧山某服务区内。
C | “两边包抄，四门拦截。”见车辆驶向充电桩，抓捕组及时调整作战计划。当嫌疑车辆停靠时，抓捕组飞奔上前，以迅雷之势成功抓获4名嫌疑人，并查获多部被盗手机。“我们要相信医学！”民警接受涉艾住院观察治疗完成抓捕工作后，林旭成才发现自己手部血流不止，中指指甲出现断裂，不免心头一惊。原来，在控制嫌疑人过程中，1名嫌疑人以身体不适为由，与林旭成发生激烈争执，并扬言：“我有艾滋！”回忆起抓捕现场，林旭成称当时大脑片刻空白。
D | 但面对嫌疑人，他迅速恢复冷静，和当地公安机关对接手续后，立即启程押解嫌疑人回温。当日下午2时，林旭成完成手头工作后，第一时间前往医院检查，并接受相关治疗。经确认，落网的5名嫌疑人中3人患有艾滋病，这让林旭成的同事和亲友都为之揪心。这个98年的大男孩，却在亲友面前表现得十分乐观：“医生说感染的风险不大，我们要相信医学。”目前，吴某某等5名犯罪嫌疑人因涉嫌盗窃罪被依法采取刑事强制措施。
E | 瓯海区疾控中心已启动涉艾执法事件帮扶治疗程序，林旭成正在医院感染科留院观察。来源：潇湘晨报 编辑：丁丰林。
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