Trump surrenders at Georgia jail in election case

Former President Donald Trump surrendered to Georgia authorities at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday evening and was booked in the criminal case involving efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

A grand jury in Georgia indicted Trump and 18 others last week on racketeering and other charges. All 19 defendants charged in the indictment have until Friday to surrender to prosecutors for booking. Eleven of the 19 allies had turned themselves in as of Thursday evening.

“You should be able to challenge the election,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport as he was about to depart after being booked. “I thought it was a rigged and stolen election. What has taken place here is a travesty of justice. I did nothing wrong.”

Trump’s surrender is distinct from the other three times the former president has been booked as a criminal defendant this year. In those cases, Trump turned himself in at a courthouse rather than a jail, and he did not have a mug shot taken. But in Georgia, authorities released a mug shot to the public on Thursday evening. It is the first time a criminal mug shot has been taken of any U.S. president or former president. In it, Trump is seen with a stern face and arched eyebrows raised.

Trump was recorded as being 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 215 pounds, according to booking records.

Earlier this week, Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors agreed to a $200,000 bond with release terms that included his promise not to intimidate witnesses or co-defendants in the case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis earlier on Thursday asked a judge to set a trial date of Oct. 23 for all defendants, in response to a request for a speedy trial from one of them, Kenneth Chesebro. Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow quickly objected to such a speedy schedule and indicated he would file a motion to sever the former president’s case from Chesebro’s.

The indictment last week came after a two-year investigation that accused Trump of conspiring to derail the Electoral College process, marshaling the Justice Department to bolster his scheme, pressuring Georgia officials to undo the election results and repeatedly lying about fraud allegations to ratchet up pressure.

Others charged include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Chesebro.

Meadows and Clark had asked a federal judge to halt their arrest by state authorities, arguing that their case should be moved to federal court because they were acting in their official capacity as Trump administration officials during the time the alleged crimes took place. U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones rejected their bids on Wednesday, and Meadows turned himself in on Thursday afternoon. Their request to transfer the case to federal court remains pending, and Jones will hold a hearing on that issue on Monday.

Trump became the first former president to face any kind of criminal charges after being indicted by a New York grand jury in March over his alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign. Since then, Trump has been indicted three more times — two times federally. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all cases.