Donald Trump will surrender in Atlanta, In the fourth criminal case launched against him this year.
Former President Donald Trump is set to surrender on Thursday in response to more than a dozen charges connected to his efforts aimed at reversing the outcome of Georgia’s 2020 election. This marks the fourth instance this year that the former president is confronting criminal charges.
Anticipated to journey from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to Atlanta, Trump will present himself at the infamous Fulton County jail. Following the pattern of some of his co-defendants who have already surrendered, Trump’s processing through the facility is expected to be swift. This expeditious process results from prior negotiations between Trump, his legal team, and the authorities, culminating in a consent bond agreement. As part of this arrangement, Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond and agreed not to employ social media to target his co-defendants and witnesses involved in the case.
Preceding his surrender, Trump opted to replace his chief Georgia lawyer, Drew Findling, with Steven Sadow, an Atlanta-based attorney specializing in white-collar and high-profile defense. While sources indicate that this switch wasn’t due to Findling’s performance, those familiar with Sadow laud him as the top criminal defense attorney in Georgia.
The forthcoming surrender in Georgia marks the fourth time this year that the former president is submitting to local or federal authorities following the lodging of criminal charges— a sequence of events unseen in the United States prior to 2023.
In the course of these events, Trump was initially booked on state charges in New York in April, stemming from a hush money scheme. In June, he turned himself in at a federal courthouse in Miami, addressing charges related to the mishandling of classified documents under the purview of special counsel Jack Smith. Earlier in the same month, Trump was arrested in Washington, D.C., and arraigned on charges brought forth by Smith as part of the investigation into endeavors to overturn the 2020 election.
As these cases unfold, they coincide with Trump’s bid for the presidency next year. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who initiated the extensive racketeering case after a prolonged investigation, has requested an October 23, 2023, trial date for the election subversion case involving Trump and 18 associates.
While the feasibility of this date remains uncertain, if realized, it would mark the inauguration of Trump’s four criminal trials. Willis, the prosecutor, has set the stage by summoning Trump and the co-defendants to be arraigned in the upcoming month. The deadline for surrender is noon on Friday.
Several of the defendants, including former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, surrendered earlier this week. John Eastman, another ex-Trump attorney, surrendered the week prior. However, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark’s attempts to halt their impending arrests were rejected by a federal court.
Meadows is scheduled for a hearing on Monday regarding his endeavor to transfer his Fulton County prosecution to federal court. Simultaneously, the Fulton County district attorney’s office subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Frances Watson, who served as the chief investigator for the secretary of state during the 2020 election, for their testimonies.
This subpoena provides insight into Fulton County prosecutors’ intentions to spotlight Trump’s January 2021 call, during which he urged Raffensperger to manipulate the votes in his favor. Meadows, who participated in the call, now faces charges related to the Georgia election subversion case due to his involvement.
On Thursday, Meadows agreed to a $100,000 bond arrangement with Fulton County prosecutors.
Following the 2020 election, Trump baselessly asserted victory and endeavored to overturn the results not only in Georgia but in other states as well. Through a series of phone conversations, he exerted pressure on Georgia election officials, including Raffensperger, in pursuit of his goals. His campaign pursued frivolous lawsuits attempting to invalidate the results in Georgia and persuaded state legislators to discard Joe Biden’s lawful electoral votes, substituting them with GOP electors.
In the indictment issued last week, Willis brought forth 13 charges against Trump, encompassing racketeering, conspiracy charges, and solicitation of a public official to violate their oath of office. The racketeering charge, applicable to all 19 defendants, asserts their involvement in a broad “criminal enterprise” aimed at overturning Georgia’s 2020 election outcome. When this plan failed, Trump’s campaign endeavored to present counterfeit pro-Trump electors. Moreover, Trump applied pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to acknowledge these spurious GOP electors during the Electoral College certification in Congress on January 6, 2021.
By: M Z Hossain, Editor Sky Buzz Feed
