Former United States President Donald Trump has surrendered himself to authorities in the state of Georgia, where he faces criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Republican leader flew down from his residence in Bedminster, New Jersey, to appear at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday afternoon, less than a day ahead of his deadline to surrender.
Once inside, he was swiftly booked, a process that required Trump to have his mugshot taken, a first in US presidential history.
The process took approximately 20 minutes. Afterwards, Trump quickly disappeared into a motorcade waiting outside the jail, having been released on a $200,000 bond agreement, the highest of all his co-defendants.
As he left the Atlanta airport, Trump issued a brief statement to reporters, denying wrongdoing and reiterating that he had the right to challenge his defeat in the 2020 election.
“We have every right — every single right — to challenge an election that we think is dishonest,” Trump said, offering a preview of his defence strategy.
He also turned the accusation of election meddling against the prosecutors, accusing them of trying to derail his 2024 bid for the presidency: “What they’re doing is election interference. They’re trying to interfere with an election.”
Trump is just one of 19 people charged in the Georgia election case, which alleges the existence of a criminal enterprise to override his defeat in the 2020 presidential race.
The former president is believed to be the 12th among the defendants to surrender to authorities.
All 19 defendants faced a deadline of Friday at noon local time to turn themselves in. Since Tuesday, high-profile Trump allies have trickled into the Fulton County Jail, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Sidney Powell.
Debate over trial start date
Ahead of Thursday’s booking, Trump’s lawyers sparred with Georgia prosecutors over when the trial should begin.
One of Trump’s co-defendants, lawyer Ken Chesebro, filed a motion earlier in the day asking for an October 23 start date, a request a Georgia judge granted.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney prosecuting the case, followed that ruling with her own request to set that date as the start for all 19 defendants.
She had previously suggested beginning the trial in March 2024.
Trump’s legal team, however, responded by filing a motion to sever his case from Chesebro’s, leading to the possibility that multiple trials could take place at separate times.
On his way to the Fulton County Jail, Trump once again attacked Willis on social media for what he considered a politically motivated prosecution.
“Please excuse me, I have to start getting ready to head down to Atlanta, Georgia, where Murder and other Violent Crimes have reached levels never seen before, to get ARRESTED by a Radical Left, Lowlife District Attorney, Fani Willis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In a subsequent post, the Republican leader accused Willis of campaigning to “get Trump” as part of her bid for office. She became district attorney in January 2021 and opened an investigation into allegations of election interference the following month.
Protesters gather outside the jail
Trump had announced on social media that he would be arriving at the Fulton County Jail around 7:30pm local time.
In the hours beforehand, dozens of supporters gathered outside the facility, waving flags and wearing pro-Trump shirts and baseball caps.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US representative from Georgia and ardent Trump supporter, joined the group around 6pm. She told local media that she was standing up against the “weaponised government”, represented by the prosecutor Willis.
“We’re going to make sure that she loses her job,” Taylor Greene said.
A smaller group of counter-protesters also arrived at the Fulton County Jail, some of whom identified as members of the group Republicans Against Trump or RAT. A few of the demonstrators wore giant rat costumes, and another wore a mock prison uniform.
In a break with usual practice, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office kept media at a distance from the jail’s parking lot, where reporters often gather to cover arrests. The Federal Aviation Authority likewise closed the airspace over the jail for approximately an hour and a half, in an effort to ensure security.
A swift booking
When Trump did arrive at the jail, his arrest and booking process went swiftly — in part because his lawyers had already hashed out the bond agreement on Monday.
“Normally, people who are arrested have to find a lawyer, get time, make certain that there’s a prosecutor there in the courtroom, be there when the magistrate judge is on hand, and then they have to spend the time hammering out those details,” Al Jazeera correspondent Rosiland Jordan explained.
“Donald Trump and his legal team got rid of the complicated work first,” she added. “He spent more time flying here, frankly than he did actually in the jail this evening.”
Booking involves the creation of an arrest record, through the collection of fingerprints and personal details for all the defendants.
In the Georgia case, Trump was not spared from having his mugshot taken, as he had in his previous three criminal indictments.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat had previously told Atlanta-area media that Trump and his 18 co-defendants would be treated like any other person facing arrest.
“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” Labat told the news station WSB-TV.
This is a developing story. More to follow.
