In a major development, former US President Donald Trump, on Monday, said he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday to face charges in the case accusing him of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss. In his social media post, the controversial American president warned India to impose an export tax if he comes to power in the upcoming Presidential elections, saying, "Can you believe it? I'll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED." Trump wrote on "Truth Social" on Monday night, hours after court papers said his bond was set at $200,000.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that when Trump surrenders there will be a “hard lockdown” of the area surrounding the main county jail.
Trump, according to the papers, is also 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.
Trump has long used social media as a toll to incite violence
Trump has repeatedly used social media to attack people involved in the criminal cases against him as he campaigns to reclaim the White House in 2024. He has been railing against Willis since before he was indicted and singled out Georgia Governor Brian Kemp — a Republican who rebuffed his efforts to overturn the election — by name in a social media post on Monday morning.
The agreement 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.
The order sets Trump's bond for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations — or RICO — charge at $80,000 and adds $10,000 for each of the 12 other counts he is facing. Bond is the amount defendants must pay as a form of collateral to ensure they show up in court ahead of trial.
Prosecutor has proposed arraignments for the defendants follow during the week of September
Willis has set a deadline of noon Friday for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to turn themselves in to be booked. The prosecutor has proposed that arraignments for the defendants follow during the week of September 5. She has said she wants to try the defendants collectively, and bring the case to trial in March of next year, which would put it in the heat of the presidential nominating season.
In Fulton County, when defendants are not in custody, their lawyers and the district attorney's office will often work out a bond amount before arraignment and the judge will sign off on it. The defendants will generally be booked at the Fulton County jail. During the booking process, they are typically photographed and fingerprinted and then they provide certain personal information. Since Trump's bond has already been set, he will be released from custody once the booking process is complete.
Why Trump will be arrested?
Trump was charged last week in the case alongside a slew of allies, who prosecutors say conspired to subvert the will of voters in a desperate bid to keep the Republican in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and he characterizes the case — and 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."
The Georgia indictment comes just two weeks after the Justice Department special counsel charged Trump in a separate case in a vast conspiracy to overturn the election. Besides the two election-related cases, Trump faces a federal indictment accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents as well as a New York state case charging him with falsifying business records.
(AP)
