Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, surrendered to Georgia authorities on Wednesday after he was indicted last week for his role in an alleged conspiracy to undo Joe Biden’s win in the state.
Giuliani’s attorneys agreed to a $150,000 bond with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, the second-highest in the case after Trump himself.
The former New York City mayor is facing 13 charges from the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, including violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit false statements and writings. Nineteen people are charged in the case, among them the former president.
Prior to traveling to Atlanta for his surrender, Giuliani told CNN he is “fighting for justice.”
“I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I am defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney,” he said.
Giuliani reportedly enlisted the help of Bernie Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner who is identified as “co-conspirator 5” in the indictment, to find a Georgia-based lawyer to represent him, according to CNN.
Local counsel Brian Tevis represented Giuliani in bond negotiations on Wednesday, but told reporters “it remains to be seen” whether he will represent the former mayor in the case beyond the bond meeting. Tevis would not say whether he was getting paid to represent Giuliani, who is embroiled in legal debt.
Following his indictment in Georgia, Giuliani said on his WABC radio show he had “scientific evidence” that would establish he had good reason to allege the election was “crooked.”
Giuliani was one of the attorneys at the center of Trump’s scheme to stay in power, spreading baseless claims of election fraud and claiming without proof that voting machines were tampered with to hurt Trump.
Giuliani is also facing several other lawsuits over his election lies, including by voting technology companies Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems.
In Georgia, John Eastman, another lawyer who faced charges in the case, and Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, surrendered Tuesday and were released on bond. On Wednesday. David Shafer and Cathy Latham, who posed as “fake electors” for Trump, as well as lawyers Ray Smith and Kenneth Chesebro turned themselves in and were released, according to Fulton County’s jail records.
Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell was booked at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, according to MSNBC.
Trump has said he will turn himself in on Thursday and has reached a $200,000 bond agreement with Willis’ office. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt.”
Last summer, Giuliani testified before a special grand jury in the case following a subpoena. Previously, the lawyer had also been informed he was a “target” of the probe, signaling he was likely to face charges.
The former mayor is also reportedly unnamed “co-conspirator 1” in special counsel Jack Smith’s federal 2020 election interference case against Trump.
Giuliani had reportedly previously pleaded with the former president to help him pay his legal fees, as he was running out of money, but Trump was unmoved at the time. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that Trump plans to host a $100,000-per-person fundraiser to help Giuliani with his legal bills.
Apart from Georgia, Trump also faces criminal charges in three more cases: for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, and for his role in a hush money scheme involving porn star Stormy Daniels.
Sanjana Karanth contributed to this report.