Trump announces plan to surrender in Georgia

Former President Donald Trump has introduced that he shall be turning himself in to be arrested and arraigned on 13 felony counts in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday.

Trump, who has already pleaded not responsible to over 70 federal and New York state felonies this yr, mentioned in a Reality Social put up on Monday that he could be turning himself in to “Radical Left” Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis in Atlanta on Thursday. Willis beforehand set a Friday deadline for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to give up themselves to authorities.

The previous president, who’s the main GOP candidate within the 2024 presidential election race, repeated claims that Willis was concerned in an “election interference” plot with President Joe Biden. He additionally repeated a declare that his notorious January 2021 cellphone name with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom he requested to “discover” sufficient votes to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden, was “good.”

“Are you able to imagine it?” Trump wrote. “I will be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Lawyer, Fani Willis, who’s overseeing one of many best Homicide and Violent Crime DISASTERS in American Historical past.”

“In my case, the journey to Atlanta isn’t for ‘Homicide,’ however for making a PERFECT PHONE CALL!” he added. “She campaigned, and is constant to marketing campaign, and lift cash on, this WITCH HUNT. That is in strict coordination with Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ. It’s all about ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”

Newsweek reached out for remark to the workplace of Willis through e mail on Monday evening.

Fulton County Superior Court docket Choose Scott McAfee ordered a $200,000 bond for the previous president earlier Monday. The order additionally units circumstances for Trump’s launch, together with a prohibition on making an attempt to “intimidate” any potential witnesses.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned final week that each one 19 defendants are anticipated to be booked on the Fulton County Jail. Some Trump supporters have instructed that the ex-president’s life might be in danger on account of “harmful” circumstances on the facility, though the previous president may have around-the-clock Secret Service safety even when he’s detained.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat advised reporters earlier this month {that a} mugshot of Trump could be taken upon his arrest, insisting that the previous president could be handled like some other defendant no matter his “standing.” No mugshot was taken of Trump throughout any of his three different arrests this yr.

Trump’s Fulton County trial is also the primary to be televised, as media requests for courtroom entry are almost all the time granted in Georgia. Willis has requested a March 4, 2024, begin date for the trial, which might put it within the thick of the presidential main season.