Former president Trump to surrender in Georgia on Thursday
Amidst mounting election manipulation charges, former President Trump's decision to face the courts head-on raises questions about the outcome of his legal saga.
Former President Donald Trump says he will surrender to authorities in Georgia to face charges in the case accusing him of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” Trump wrote on his social media network Monday night, hours after his bond was set at $200,000.
It will be Trump’s fourth arrest since April when he became the first former president in US history to face indictment.
Since then, Trump, who remains the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has had what has seemed like an endless procession of bookings and arraignments in jurisdictions across the country.
His appearances in New York, Florida and Washington, DC, have drawn enormous media attention, with news helicopters tracking his every move.
Trump's announcement came hours after his attorneys met with prosecutors in Atlanta to discuss the details of his release on bond.
The former president is barred from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses or victims in the case — including on social media — according to the bond agreement signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Trump’s defence attorneys and the judge. It explicitly includes “posts on social media or reposts of posts” made by others.
Donald Trump has been railing against Willis since before he was indicted and singled out Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — a Republican who rebuffed his efforts to overturn the election — by name in a social media post-Monday morning.
The agreement also prohibits the former president from making any “direct or indirect threat of any nature” against witnesses or co-defendants, and from communicating in any way about the facts of the case with them, except through attorneys.
Trump's appearance in Georgia will come a day after the first Republican primary debate, which he has decided to skip.
Unlike in other jurisdictions, in Fulton County, arraignments — where a defendant first appears in court — are generally set after a defendant completes the booking process and do not happen on the same day.
Booking a former president, who still has 24-hour Secret Service protection, has created myriad security and logistical issues in other jurisdictions. However, Georgia officials have said Trump will be treated like others charged with crimes in their state.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and he characterises the case — and the three others he is facing — as efforts to hurt his 2024 presidential campaign. He has regularly used his Truth Social platform to single out prosecutors and others involved in his cases, and to continue to spread falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
In a post on Monday, Trump called the Fulton County district attorney “crooked, incompetent, & highly partisan.” He also attacked Kemp, whom he has long targeted for the governor's refusal to intervene after the 2020 election.
Kemp has been outspoken in pushing back against Trump, writing on social media last week: “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen."