Trump says he will surrender Thursday to Fulton County authorities
Washington — Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he will surrender to authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday after he was indicted on charges related to alleged efforts to reverse the outcome of the state's 2020 presidential election.
"Can you believe it? I'll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is overseeing one of the greatest Murder and Violent Crime DISASTERS in American History," Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, criticizing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former president went on to call the prosecution by Willis a "witch hunt" intended to damage his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the leading Republican to take on President Biden.
Trump will be processed Thursday evening at the Rice Street Jail, according to sources briefed on the former president's movements.
The sources say he will be treated like any other defendant. He is expected to have his mugshot taken, and in Fulton County, it is routine for all defendants to be fingerprinted and iris scanned for biometric identification. Processing is expected to take under an hour.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said that when Trump surrenders, there will be a "hard lockdown" of the area around the jail in Atlanta. The facility is currently under investigation by the Justice Department over its conditions.
During Trump's processing, the perimeter of the jail will be lined with U.S. Secret Service personnel, deputies from Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Atlanta Police.
Trump and 18 others were indicted on state felony charges last week and have until noon on Aug. 25 to turn themselves in to the Fulton County Jail. Several already have.
Trump's bond was set Monday at $200,000, and he is prohibited from intimidating the other defendants or witnesses in the case, including on social media, among other restrictions, according to a consent bond order signed by his lawyers, Willis and Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case.
Willis, who pursued the indictment after a two-year investigation into efforts to overturn Georgia's presidential election, proposed in a court filing that arraignments for all 19 defendants take place the week of Sept. 5, and asked for the trial to begin in March 2024.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case brought by Willis. The 41-count indictment returned by the grand jury accuses the former president and 18 co-defendants of participating in a "criminal enterprise" that aimed to reverse Trump's electoral loss in Georgia.
The former president is charged with 13 counts, including allegedly violating Georgia's racketeering law, making false statements and writings, and conspiring to commit forgery, regarding an alleged plot to replace duly elected presidential electors with new electors who would vote for the former president.
The prosecution in Fulton County is the fourth Trump is facing, and Thursday will mark the fourth time he has been booked since April. He has been charged in two federal cases related to special counsel Jack Smith's investigations, one in South Florida related to his handling of sensitive government records and a second in Washington, D.C., stemming from attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power. The Manhattan district attorney has also charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to an alleged scheme to use "hush-money" payments to conceal damaging information before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all three cases. His fourth arraignment, in Fulton County, is expected to differ slightly from the earlier three because cameras are allowed in Georgia courtrooms. State law allows proceedings to be photographed and televised if they're not disruptive, while electronic media coverage of criminal proceedings in federal courts is prohibited.