Trump departs resort to face arrest in Georgia
Donald Trump has left his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for Georgia, where he is expected to be formally arrested this evening, CNN reports.
Key events
This was the scene as the motorcade of Donald Trump made its way from his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, to the airport in Newark:
Squint through the gloomy Newark, New Jersey weather in this Sky News footage and you can see the flashing lights of what appears to be Donald Trump’s motorcade arriving at the plane that will take him to Georgia:
Trump arrives at airport for flight to Georgia
Donald Trump has arrived at the airport in Newark, New Jersey, where he will board his flight to face arrest in Atlanta, CNN reports.
In his order to begin Kenneth Chesebro’s trial on 23 October, Judge Scott McAfee noted that the schedule does not apply to anyone else.
“At this time, these deadlines do not apply to any co-defendant,” the judge wrote. That’s good news for the 18 other people indicted by the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, including Donald Trump, whose lawyers are currently trying to get his case moved to federal court, which could delay it for months – potentially long enough for him to win his race for the White House.
Judge sets 23 October trial date for Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro
Kenneth Chesebro, another of Donald Trump’s attorneys who advised him on his plot to overturn his 2020 election loss, requested a speedy trial after being indicted in Georgia, and it appears his wish has been granted.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the judge handling his case has said Chesebro’s trial will begin on 23 October – as Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis had proposed:
Fulton Judge Scott McAfee laying out a very aggressive timetable for Chesebro’s Fulton trial, with an Oct. 23, 2023 start date. pic.twitter.com/uqOmqzuHRc
— Tamar Hallerman (@TamarHallerman) August 24, 2023
Per McAfee’s scheduling order:
Arraignments – Sept. 6
Discovery – by Sept. 20
Motions – by Sept. 27
Pretrial conference – Sept. 29
Motions hearing – TBD
Trial – Oct. 23— Tamar Hallerman (@TamarHallerman) August 24, 2023
When Donald Trump appears at the Rice Street jail in Atlanta this evening, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that he will be treated like any other defendant. That includes having his mugshot taken, and his height and weight recorded:
Donald Trump was expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, yielding to the criminal justice process in Georgia that will involve him being processed like any other defendant.
The former president’s arrival in Georgia follows a presidential debate featuring his main rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, a race in which Trump remains the overwhelmingly dominant frontrunner despite his many legal troubles.
Trump had his legal team negotiate his booking to take place during the primetime viewing hours for the cable news networks, as he sought to discredit the charges and distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning it into a spectacle.
But Trump was expected to be booked by authorities without the special privileges afforded to him in his other criminal cases, being subject to a mugshot that he had desperately sought to avoid, having his fingerprints taken, as well as having his height and weight recorded.
Trump faced his fourth indictment since leaving office when he was charged in a 41-count indictment by the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, last week, that described Trump and 18 allies as having engaged in a criminal enterprise to reverse his 2020 election defeat.
Trump departs resort to face arrest in Georgia
Donald Trump has left his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for Georgia, where he is expected to be formally arrested this evening, CNN reports.
Trump says to expect arrest at 7.30pm eastern
In a post on his Truth social account, Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested in Georgia at 7.30pm eastern time, and fired off his typical string of insults at Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis.
Here it is, in full:
231,000,000 Views, and still counting. The Biggest Video on Social Media, EVER, more than double the Super Bowl! But 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, for A PERFECT PHONE CALL, and having the audacity to challenge a RIGGED & STOLEN ELECTION. THE EVIDENCE IS IRREFUTABLE! ARREST TIME: 7:30 P.M.
Georgia authorities release Meadows mugshot
Here’s the mugshot for Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, which Georgia authorities released following his booking today:
John Eastman’s bad week just got worse. A lawyer who advised Donald Trump on his legal strategy to stop Joe Biden’s election victory, Eastman was among those indicted in Georgia by district attorney Fani Willis for his attempt to tamper with the state’s election.
On Tuesday, he was formally booked into the Fulton county jail, and Politico reports that today, the California bar is considering whether to revoke his license to practice law:
HAPPENING NOW: John Eastman’s disbarment proceedings are underway in California, even as his indictment is now pending in Georgia.
Currently on the stand: Matthew Seligman, an expert in the Electoral Count Act, who is explaning its provisions as Eastman looks on.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 24, 2023
Eastman’s name popped up repeatedly in the January 6 committee investigation last year, which discovered that he asked Trump for a pardon days after the attack on the Capitol.
Interim summary
Hello US politics live blog readers, things are very busy at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta and are only going to get busier as more co-defendants in Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion case negotiate bail then turn themselves in – and the former US president is due there this evening to surrender himself. We’re covering all this as it happens, so do stick with Guardian US.
Here’s where things stand:
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Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s chief of staff at the White House, turned himself in at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta, Georgia to face racketeering charges.
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Jeff Clark, a former justice department attorney and a codefendant in the Georgia election subversion case, struck a $100,00 bond agreement with Fulton county prosecutors.
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Fani Willis, Fulton county district attorney, has proposed for the Georgia racketeering (Rico) case against Trump and his 18 co-defendants to start on 23 October 2023, according to a court filing.
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Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, has been subpoenaed to testify at a Monday hearing examining efforts by Meadows to move the Fulton county criminal case to federal court.
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The Republican-led House judiciary committee launched a congressional investigation into the Willis, over whether her prosecution of Donald Trump is “politically motivated”.
Joanna Walters
Mark Meadows is trying to get his part of the Georgia organized crime case against him, Donald Trump and others moved from state court to federal court and had hoped to be able to avoid having to surrender at the jail in Atlanta this week with his co-defendants.
Two days ago he asked a federal court in an emergency motion to block his arrest, according to court documents filed on Tuesday. He asked the court to “protect” him from arrest before a Monday 28 August, hearing on his request to move the case out of the Fulton county superior court to the district court of northern Georgia.
Meadows is arguing that the charges against him concern his actions as an officer of the federal government. Trump is expected to argue likewise in due course.
In response, Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis unequivocally rejected the request, noting: “I am not granting any extensions” and that he was no different from any other defendant in a criminal case.
Willis indicated that if Meadows does not turn himself in by noon on Friday, he would be arrested, writing: “At 12:30 pm on Friday I shall file warrants in the system.”
Early Thursday afternoon, he surrendered to the jail to be booked.
Joanna Walters
Mark Meadows has turned himself in at Fulton county jail in Atlanta, just under 24 hours before the deadline of noon Friday for all 19 defendants in the Georgia case to surrender, to face the criminal charges against him
Like Donald Trump and all 17 fellow co-defendants, Meadows is charged with being part of an organized crime racket in relation to working with others to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.
In official terms, he’s charged with violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico) and “solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer”, in the latter case being accused in the indictment of “unlawfully soliciting, requesting and importuning Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger … to engage in conduct constituting the felony offense…by unlawfully altering, unlawfully adjusting and otherwise unlawfully influencing the certified returns for presidential electors for the November 3, 2020, election in Georgia…”
This, in short, related to efforts from Trump’s mob to persuade Raffensperger to rustle up enough non-existent Republican votes falsely that it would give the-then president the win in the crucial state.
Former White House chief of staff Meadows surrenders in Georgia
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s chief of staff at the White House, has just turned himself in at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta, Georgia.
He faces racketeering charges alongside Trump and 17 other co-defendants.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires taken at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta, Georgia, where Donald Trump is expected to surrender this evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
Trevian Kutti, a former publicist who was charged in the Georgia case in connection with the intimidation of an Atlanta election worker, has agreed to a $75,000 bond.
A Chicago-based publicist, Kutti allegedly threatened a Georgia election worker, Ruby Freeman, with jail if she did not say she participated in election fraud.
She faces three counts in the indictment: violation of Georgia’s Rico Act, criminal conspiracy and influencing witnesses.
Former DoJ official Jeff Clark reaches $100,000 bond agreement
Jeff Clark, a former justice department attorney, has struck a $100,00 bond agreement with Fulton county prosecutors.
Clark’s bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month, surrendering by noon on Friday and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.
From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:
Hugo Lowell
Ahead of the surrender, Donald Trump shook up his legal team and retained the top Georgia attorney Steven Sadow, who filed a notice of appearance with the Fulton county superior court as lead counsel, replacing Drew Findling. Trump’s other lawyer in the case, Jennifer Little, is staying on.
The reason for the abrupt recalibration was unclear, and Trump’s aides suggested it was unrelated to performance. Still, Trump has a record of firing lawyers who represented him during criminal investigations but were unable to stave off charges.
Findling was also unable to exempt Trump from having his mugshot taken, according to people familiar with the matter – something that personally irritated Trump, even though the Fulton county sheriff’s office had always indicated they were uninterested in making such an accommodatioin.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The other 18 co-defendants in the 2020 election subversion case appear to be receiving regular treatment based on online jail records for the former Trump election lawyer John Eastman and others, who had their height, weight and personal appearance made public.
Once the booking is complete, Trump was expected to be released immediately on conditions that include stringent witness intimidation restrictions that have not been put in place for his co-defendants, court filings show, until he is due back in state court for arraignment.
The Trump legal team could file a motion to remove the case to federal court before then, under a federal statute that allows for such venue changes if the case involves federal officials’ actions taken “under color” of their office – as in, if it was part of official duties.
Trump could face major difficulties with that argument, however, since he would have to show that taking steps to change the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia amounted to him acting in his official capacity as president, legal experts have said.