Trump surrenders: Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday (August 24) surrendered on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute booking that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president.
Trump was released on a USD 200,000 bond after which he headed back to the airport for his return flight to New Jersey.
Trump's surrender to law enforcement authorities has become by now a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president being booked, in four different cities, on felony criminal charges.
However, his visit to Atlanta was not like his previous three surrenders. Trump’s surrender unfolded at night and required him to visit a problem-plagued jail instead of a courtroom, not in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington but rather in the battleground state considered crucial for the 2024 presidential election.
The former US president, unlike in other cities where he was not required to pose for a mug shot, had to snap a booking photo, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.
Trump landed in Atlanta at around 7 p.m. and was driven to jail for the booking process. As he descended from his private plane, he offered a wave and thumbs up. He completed the process in 20 minutes.
The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted.
Since then, he's faced federal charges in Florida and Washington, and this month he was indicted in Atlanta with 18 others — including his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — under a racketeering statute normally associated with gang members and organized crime.
Giuliani who surrendered on Wednesday also posed for a mug shot.
The criminal cases have spurred a succession of bookings and arraignments, with Trump making brief court appearances before returning to the 2024 campaign trail.
Several Trump supporters gathered outside the jail where he was to surrender. Some of them waved flags with Trump’s name. Security was heightened at the spot.
Just ahead of his expected surrender, Trump hired a new lead attorney for the Georgia case.
Prominent Atlanta criminal defense attorney Steve Sadow took the place of another high-profile criminal defense attorney, Drew Findling, who had represented Trump on Monday when his bond terms were negotiated.
However, by Thursday, Findling was no longer part of the team, according to a person with knowledge of the change who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Sadow said in a statement that Trump “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. "Prosecutions intended to advance or serve the ambitions and careers of political opponents of the president have no place in our justice system," he added.
(With AP inputs)
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