Trump surrenders to authorities in Atlanta

Shortly after arriving at the Fulton County Jail, Trump was quickly processed, fingerprinted and a mugshot was taken, a first for the former president who has previously appeared at three different facilities for other criminal charges. 

Trump turned himself into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday evening on charges connected to a plot to overturn the 2020 elections. This comes just days after the disgraced former Republican president announced on social media that he would do so. 

Trump arrived in Atlanta around 7 p.m. ET via private plane after departing from Newark Liberty International Airport a few hours earlier. He was staying at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. He arrived at the Fulton County Jail around 7:30 p.m

Shortly after arriving at the jail, Trump was quickly processed, fingerprinted and a mugshot was taken, a first for the former president, who has previously appeared at three different facilities for other criminal charges.  

Trump spent 20 minutes in the Fulton County Jail and was released from custody around 8 p.m. ET, according to NBC News. The former president was booked on more than a dozen charges, including racketeering and conspiracy charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. 

According to CNN, earlier this week, Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond and other conditions following his release, which include not utilizing social media to attack witnesses and co-defendants in the case.

Last week, a grand jury issued an indictment for Trump and 18 co-defendants and charged them with 41 criminal counts for their roles in the 2020 presidential election scheme. The co-defendants include Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani. 

In a surprise turn of events, Trump hired new legal representation just hours before his surrender. He replaced his attorney, Drew Findling, with Steven Sadow, who previously represented rapper Young Thug in a high-profile RICO case.

Sadow released a statement shortly after Trump retained him and said, “The president should never have been indicted. He is innocent of all the charges brought against him.”

“We look forward to the case being dismissed or, if necessary, an unbiased, open-minded jury finding the president not guilty,” he added. 

Trump and his co-defendants have maintained that the charges they face are politically motivated, despite evidence presented in the nearly 100-page indictment that suggests otherwise. 

According to CBS News, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has set Trump’s trial date for Oct. 23.

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