Former US President Donald Trump has left a Georgia prison after paying bail. He turned himself in to authorities due to an investigation into alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The businessman stayed in the complex for about 20 minutes. The record shows that Trump is 1.80 m tall and weighs 97 kg. He is listed as having blue eyes and blonde or strawberry-colored hair.
VIDEO: Trump team breached voting software in Georgia
The former president agreed to a $200,000 bail – an amount that corresponds to around R$1 million – and other conditions for release, including not using social media to intimidate other defendants and witnesses in the case.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said all 19 defendants in the Georgia election subversion case will undergo the same process as any other criminal defendant in the county, which includes obtaining fingerprints and police photographs.
He surrendered to Justice around 8:30 pm (Brasília time).
Charges and process
Willis’ indictment says that “Trump and the other defendants named in that indictment refused to accept that Trump lost and knowingly and willfully joined in a conspiracy to illegally change the election result in favor” of the former president.
“This conspiracy contained a common purpose and plan to commit two or more acts of extortion in Fulton County, Georgia, in other parts of the state of Georgia, and in other states.”
A phone call made in January 2021, in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” nearly 12,000 votes that would put his voting margin ahead of Biden, showed how far the then president would go to reverse his defeat in the state, according to the prosecution.
Republican control of the legislature and executive branch in Georgia has made the state one of Trump’s biggest targets.
One day after the first debate of the Republican party
The former president surrenders after the holding, on Wednesday night (23), of the first debate of the Republican primaries.
Despite being the favorite in the polls, Trump did not participate and told his rivals to drop out of the race.
The showdown was attended by eight party politicians who managed to meet election committee rules, such as reaching 40,000 individual campaign donors and registering at least 1% support in three national polls or in two national polls and two state polls that meet the committee’s criteria.
They were:
- Doug Burgum, Governor of North Dakota;
- Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey;
- Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida;
- Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina;
- Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas;
- Mike Pence, former vice president;
- Vivek Ramaswamy, businessman;
- Tim Scott, senator from South Carolina.
Despite not having participated in the debate, Trump is expected to be divided between the courts and the platforms until the 2024 presidential election.
Although a conviction does not have the power to make you ineligible in the United States, it can have a very negative impact on the electorate, especially independent ones.
Other accused surrender
By Wednesday, two of Trump’s top election lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, had already turned themselves in. The first agreed to pay US$ 150,000 in bail and the second, US$ 100,000 so that they could respond freely.
On the same day, Kenneth Chesebro, who engineered the plot in the Trump campaign that there were fake voters, also surrendered.
John Eastman, also a former Trump lawyer, and Scott Hall, a Republican election research analyst, surrendered to Justice last Tuesday (22).
Besides them and Trump, another 13 accused have until Friday (25) to surrender , as Fulton prosecutor Fani Willis formally charged 19 people with participating in schemes to interfere with Georgia election results. Are they:
- Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff;
- Jeffrey Clark, senior Justice Department official;
- Jenna Ellis, Trump campaign attorney;
- Robert Cheeley, a lawyer who advanced fraud claims;
- Mike Roman, Trump campaign staffer;
- David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and fake voter;
- Shawn Still, fake Republican voter;
- Stephen Lee, a pastor linked to the intimidation of election workers;
- Harrison Floyd, leader of the Black Voices for Trump;
- Trevian Kutti, publicist linked to intimidation of election workers;
- Cathy Latham, fake GOP voter linked to the Coffee County rape;
- Misty Hampton, Coffee County election supervisor;
- Ray Smith, Trump campaign attorney.
Friday was the deadline set by Willis when she revealed the accusation last week about attempts to reverse Trump’s defeat of Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Willis has been meeting with the defendants and negotiating bail terms.
*published by Tiago Tortella, from CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
