Former President Donald Trump traveled to Atlanta on Thursday for his booking at the Fulton County jail in the Georgia election interference case. A booking photo was released of the former president, and his campaign has begun fundraising off of the image. CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion reports from Atlanta.
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Donald Trump dropped in for a photo op in Georgia last night—not the usual kibbitz on the hustings for a former president, but a killer visual to end the week with: a mug shot.
And just like that, Trump was restored to his accustomed place in the Republican dogpile: everywhere. It was hard to look away, even if you wanted to. Former presidents do not go and get fingerprinted and mug-shotted and perp-walked every day, even the one former president who takes his arraignments in gift packs of four.
Clichés are always bad, and sometimes quite wrong, but the conceit that this would be a “split screen” week for the Republican campaign—eight GOP debaters on one screen, Trump’s co-defendants getting processed on the other—was spectacularly amiss from the start. One screen this week would blot out all of the rest.
Yes, Wednesday’s debate yielded a few enduring images—including Chris Christie, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley all fixing simultaneous stink eyes upon Vivek Ramaswamy, as if they were about to stab him with their pens. But those moments unquestionably pale next to what emanated last night from Fulton County. Trump’s mug shot, probably the most anticipated in history, seems destined to also be the most analyzed and disseminated.
You can assume that the subject, a figure of uncommon vanity, obsessed like hell over his bureaucratic close-up. How should he pose? For what aura should he strive? Tough guy, defiant, or wounded pup? Would makeup be allowed? Thumbs-ups or no?
Trump had come and gone from the Fulton County Jail by about 8 p.m. on the East Coast. Roughly 95 percent of Americans—or at least a sampling of hyper-online individuals in my feed—furiously began refreshing social media to see if the image was out yet. There were a few fakeouts and some inspired memes. Trump’s recorded weight—215 pounds—became a topic for discussion. It was widely doubted.
Finally, around 8:40 p.m, the mug shot landed. Trump’s hair and eyebrows were more feathered than usual, like he had brushed them out. Lips were pursed, eyes stern and severe, his brow zig-zagging like lightning. The former president looked like the Grinch—the Grinch Who Stole Georgia (or tried).
One thing that seemed clear from the other co-defendant processings this week is that the “deep state” wise guy who’s in charge of the booking shots at this notorious Atlanta jail is not much interested in customer service. The alleged lawbreakers have appeared, for the most part, shaken and disoriented. The lighting in the photos is awful; a harsh shine beats down over the side of each defendant’s forehead. The lawyer John Eastman seems confused; Mark Meadows, kind of sedated; a smiling Sidney Powell looks under-slept (and bonkers); Rudy Giuliani delivered the perfect “after” image to view alongside his Time “Person of the Year” cover from 2001.
Trump’s photo offers a rough visage, formidable and extremely serious—which is what I assume he was going for. He made an effort here. It paid off. He gave his haters nothing in the ballpark of vulnerability. At 9:38 p.m., he tweeted out the image with a link to his campaign website and a message: “NEVER SURRENDER!”
Each defendant’s photo, including Trump’s, is imprinted with a prominent Fulton County Sheriff’s Office badge in the top left corner. The logo carries a subtle but powerful message: Don’t even think about portraying this as anything but a dark, singular, and deeply unpleasant occasion. This is no place for joyriders or dilettantes or Instagram peacocks. You can post bail and leave, for now, but you don’t want to come back, trust us. Take a whiff and remember it.
No doubt, Trump will. He does not like places that are “not nice.” He is sensitive to germs and smells. “There have been ongoing problems with overcrowding in the [Fulton County] jail, along with violence, overflowing toilets and faulty air conditioning,” The WashingtonPostreported last week.
But at least Trump was spared the spin room in Milwaukee.
For the record, Ramaswamy dominated that particular halitosis hall after Wednesday night’s debate. He kept darting from one late-night interview to the next, big-man-on-the-stage that he was. “I gotta keep moving, gotta keep moving,” Ramaswamy announced as he glad-handed his way through the sweaty scene. At one point, he approached a CNN camera where host Dana Bash was preparing to interview North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. Ramaswamy tapped Bash on the shoulder, and Bash lit up, recognizing this sleeker vessel that had drifted into precious airspace. She seized her moment, as Ramaswamy had earlier, securing the peppy capitalist after an awkward back-and-forth with the governor.
“I gotta keep moving,” Ramaswamy said again as someone tried to grab him away from Bash’s camera setup. This was his big night. Everyone was watching him, and he seemed determined to savor it all before midnight struck. Trump would be back and inescapable again soon enough.
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday hired a new attorney, Steven Sadow, to represent him in the Georgia election interference case. Rikki Klieman, Nicole Sganga and Graham Kates have more.
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The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office released former President Donald Trump’s booking photo Thursday night after he surrendered to authorities on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson examines Trump’s defense in the case.
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Former President Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in Thursday in Fulton County, Georgia, igniting a new chapter in ongoing legal proceedings. Trump’s surrender comes as nine of his co-defendants have turned themselves in this week, including his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani. CBS News’ Nikole Killion reports from Georgia.
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Washington — A federal judge in Georgia rejected a request by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to postpone his surrender and arrest in Fulton County, Georgia, as an attempt to move the case to federal court is litigated, according to a court order issued Wednesday.
“The clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution, does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting District Attorney Willis’s enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows,” Judge Steve Jones wrote in a brief ruling.
Meadows’ attorneys had asked the federal court to block Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ enforcement of an arrest warrant as they worked to convince the judge to move the Georgia state case to federal court.
Jones wrote Wednesday the law does not allow for federal court interference in the state case at the current juncture, and the prosecution of Meadows must continue while the federal court considers the broader request to transfer the case.
Meadows, who served as chief of staff in the Trump White House, argued last week that his case should be moved to federal court because the allegations contained in Willis’ indictment against him occurred while he was acting in his formal capacity as White House chief of staff.
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President. One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things. And they have far less to do with the interests of state law than, for example, murder charges that have been successfully removed,” his attorneys wrote last week.
On Tuesday, Willis pushed back, writing in a federal court filing, “Lawfully arresting the defendant on felony charges after allowing the defendant ample time to negotiate a surrender neither deprives the defendant of the ability to seek removal nor does it impact this Court’s jurisdiction to consider removal.”
Court filings this week revealed a back-and-forth between Meadows’ attorneys and Willis, in which his legal team fought to delay the Friday afternoon deadline Willis had set for all 19 defendants charged in the Trump case to surrender and officially be arrested.
“Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction,” Willis wrote to Meadows’ legal team, according to a copy of an email provided in court filings.
Another Trump ally, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, made a similar attempt to postpone his arrest, asking the federal judge in Georgia to issue an emergency stay on the matter. On Wednesday, Judge Jones also denied that request, writing that law dictates that “the state court retains jurisdiction over the prosecution and the proceedings continue.”
A federal court hearing on moving the Meadows case is set for August 28.
Washington — Rudy Giuliani’s mugshot was released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, shortly after he surrendered at an Atlanta jail to be booked on charges alleging he and others attempted to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Giuliani, who was Trump’s personal attorney, spearheaded efforts to challenge the election results after Trump’s loss. He faces 13 felony counts, including allegedly breaking Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, making false statements and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath. Eighteen others, including Trump, were also indicted in the Georgia case.
Rudy Giuliani mugshot from Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Giuliani’s bond is set at $150,000.
Ahead of his surrender, Giuliani told reporters that he would plead not guilty and lamented that he would have his mugshot taken, saying he “probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail.” Giuliani is a former federal prosecutor and served as mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.
“You find a prosecutor who has a better record than mine in the last hundred years — I bet you don’t,” he said. “I’m the same Rudy Giuliani who took down the mafia, made New York City the safest city in America, reduced crime more than any mayor in the history of any city anywhere, and I’m fighting for justice.”
As he left his New York apartment building Wednesday morning, he told reporters, “I’m going to Georgia, and I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel I’m defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney.”
“I’m going to vote to Fulton County to comply with the law, which I always do,” Giuliani said, adding, “I don’t know if I plead today, but if I do, I’ll plead not guilty. And I’ll get photographed, isn’t that nice? A mugshot, (of) the man who probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail.”
“You find a prosecutor who has a better record than mine in the last hundred years —I bet you don’t,” he added. He told reporters, “I’m the same Rudy Giuliani who took down the mafia, made New York City the safest city in America, reduced crime more than any mayor in the history of any city anywhere, and I’m fighting for justice.”
Lawyers for Giuliani met with the district attorney Wednesday afternoon, and his bond was set at $150,000.
He was accompanied by former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, a source said. Kerik, a longtime ally of Giuliani’s, is not one of the 19 defendants in the Fulton County case.
Former New York City Mayor and former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani talks to members of the press before he leaves the U.S. District Court on May 19, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Giuliani said he would plead not guilty. He said he would likely get a mug shot, despite that he is “the man who probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail.”
Giuliani is one of 19 defendants, including former President Donald Trump, who have been indicted on racketeering and other charges in Fulton County related to alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
He was central to a campaign to challenge the results after Trump lost, taking on a leadership role both in internal planning as well as cheerleading the effort in public — holding a famous press conference after the election at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia, saying Trump would not concede, and spreading misinformation in appearances before state legislatures.
The indictment claims Giuliani, “in furtherance of the conspiracy” to overturn the election, sought to push legislators in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan to “unlawfully appoint” presidential electors from their states.
Giuliani has denied all wrongdoing in the case, and has criticized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ handling of the investigation.
On Tuesday, Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman, and John Eastman, a conservative attorney, were also booked at the jail. Both men were eligible for bond. A request to Hall for comment was not immediately returned.
Eastman said in a statement that he and his legal team plan to contest the charges and said he is confident he will be “fully vindicated.”
Willis gave those charged until noon Friday to surrender to authorities.
Trump said on his social media platform Monday that he will turn himself in on Thursday. He has denied wrongdoing in the case.
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
Washington — The sprawling, 98-page Fulton County, Georgia, indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 others lists 41 counts related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. All 19 defendants are charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act, and the remaining counts relate to an alleged variety of schemes to keep Trump in office after he lost the election.
Thirty additional unindicted alleged co-conspirators are mentioned in the indictment, but not identified.
The indictment contains charges ranging from intimidating a Fulton County election worker to submitting a fake slate of presidential electors to breaching election equipment
Some of those charged are familiar names, but others are less well-known.
The charging document unsealed Aug. 14 says Trump, his co-defendants and 30 unindicted co-conspirators “constituted a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in various” criminal activities with the goal of changing the election’s outcome in the former president’s favor.
Here’s what to know about the 18 allies of the former president facing state felony charges:
Lawyers, campaign aides and administration officials
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani, former lawyer to former President Donald Trump, exits federal court in Washington, D.C., on May 19, 2023.
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A former federal prosecutor who served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001, Giuliani faces 13 counts in the Georgia case. He was Trump’s personal attorney for more than half of his presidency and spearheaded the effort to, as he described it, find voter fraud, and as prosecutors claim, overturn the election.
The Georgia indictment alleges that Giuliani, “in furtherance of the conspiracy” to overturn the election, called the speaker of the Arizona House, and appeared before and tried to contact legislators in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Michigan to convince them to “unlawfully appoint” presidential electors from their states.
Giuliani is also accused in the indictment of making false statements accusing election workers in Fulton County of stealing votes.
In a July interview with CBS News, Giuliani’s attorney Robert Costello described his client’s role in the aftermath of the election as “he [was] like the general of this army” of lawyers and others pursuing proof of fraud in the election.
In a statement to CBS News, Giuliani said the case “is an affront to American Democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system.”
“The real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly,” Giuliani said.
Trump was also indicted Aug. 1 on federal charges related to his broader efforts to overturn the election. That indictment lists six unindicted co-conspirators, and Costello acknowledged to CBS News on Aug. 2 that a person identified as “Co-Conspirator 1” “appears” to be Giuliani.
Prosecutors in that case described “Co-Conspirator 1” as “an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that [Trump’s] 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not,” and someone Trump appointed to “spearhead his efforts going forward to challenge the election results.”
Mark Meadows
Mark Meadows, then White House chief of staff, in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 21, 2020.
Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
He is the former White House chief of staff, and was on the Jan. 2, 2021, call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Meadows also allegedly attempted to observe the secretary of state’s audit of absentee ballots.
Meadows is portrayed in the indictment as a go-between for Trump and others involved in coordinating his team’s strategy for contesting the election and “disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.”
He is charged with two counts, one of which relates to the call with Raffensperger.
Meadows is seeking to have the case against him in Fulton County be moved to federal court because the conduct alleged in the indictment took place while he was chief of staff. His lawyers also indicated in a court filing on Tuesday that they plan to file a motion to dismiss the charges.
“Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se: arranging Oval Office meetings, contacting state officials on the President’s behalf, visiting a state government building, and setting up a phone call for the President,” they wrote. “One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things.”
John Eastman
John Eastman on April 29, 2021.
Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
He’s a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas and is a conservative attorney who was a key contributor to planning by Trump allies to contest the election. The indictment claims Eastman sent an email suggesting “that the Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia needed to meet on December 14, 2020, sign six sets of certificates of vote, and mail them ‘to the President of the Senate and to other officials.’” Eastman did not reply to a request for comment.
He faces nine counts relating to the alleged plot to send the fake slate of electors to Congress, which the indictment says were intended to “disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress” on Jan. 6, 2021, in order to alter the outcome of the 2020 election.
Eastman’s attorney, Charles Burnham, criticized the indictment and said those charged were engaging in political, not criminal, activity.
“Lawyers everywhere should be sleepless over this latest stunt to criminalize their advocacy,” he said in a statement. “This is a legal cluster-bomb that leaves unexploded ordinance for lawyers to navigate in perpetuity. Dr. Eastman will challenge this indictment in any and all forums available to him.”
Eastman surrendered to authorities Aug. 22, according to Fulton County inmate records, and was released on a $100,000 bond. He is prohibited from communicating “in any way, directly or indirectly” about the case with any of the other defendants, except through his lawyer, according to his consent bond order.
Eastman said in a statement that the indictment “represents a crossing of the Rubicon for our country, implicating the fundamental First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances.”
“Each Defendant in this indictment, no less than any other American citizen, is entitled to rely upon the advice of counsel and the benefit of past legal precedent in challenging what former Vice President Pence described as, ‘serious allegations of voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law’ in the 2020 election,” he said. ‘The attempt to criminalize our rights to such redress with this indictment will have – and is already having — profound consequences for our system of justice.”
Jeffrey Clark
Jeffrey Clark
Clark is a former Justice Department official who Trump wanted to install as acting attorney general before the threat of mass resignations by Justice Department officials led him to back down, according to the House select committee that investigated the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The indictment charges Clark with two counts and claims an email he sent to then-Acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen seeking to send “false” information to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was a “substantial step” in the racketeering case.
In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson for Clark called him “a brilliant legal mind who has litigated cases of national significance in and out of government for decades.”
“Willis is exceeding her powers by inserting herself into the operations of the federal government to go after Jeff,” said the spokesperson, Rachel Cauley, referring to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Jenna Ellis speaks at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Jenna Ellis is a lawyer who was affiliated with the Trump campaign, and along with Giuliani, allegedly promoted misinformation about the election during a legislative hearing. She faces two counts, one of which stems from alleged efforts to convince Georgia state senators to unlawfully appoint presidential electors supporting Trump. Ellis did not reply to a request for comment. Her bond is set for $100,000.
Sidney Powell
Sidney Powell speaks during a rally on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Ben Margot / AP
Powell is a conservative lawyer who was involved in planning Trump’s efforts to contest the election, including in meetings at the White House. Powell allegedly coordinated with the data company SullivanStrickler to access election data from Coffee County, Georgia, and faces seven counts related to those efforts. A request for comment was not immediately returned.
Kenneth Chesebro
He proposed, in a memorandum to Trump allies, “a bold, controversial strategy” to overturn the election: appoint alternate electors loyal to Trump in several states. That and at least one other memo he penned were referred to in the indictment as overt acts “in furtherance of the conspiracy.” He is charged with seven counts stemming from the plan to submit a slate of fake electors from Georgia.
Chesebro did not reply to a request for comment. His bond is set at $100,000.
Ray Smith III
A lawyer for the Trump campaign, Smith is accused of falsely claiming to Georgia state senators that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election and that tens of thousands of people voted illegally.
The indictment claims Smith unlawfully requested state lawmakers appoint a different set of electors from Georgia who would cast their votes for Trump and furthered the false elector scheme, including by conspiring to make a document that purported to be the certificate of the votes of the 2020 presidential electors from Georgia.
He faces 12 charges, and Smith’s bond is $50,000. An attorney for Smith did not reply to a request for comment.
Robert Cheeley
Cheeley, a longtime lawyer in Georgia, is facing 10 counts. He and Eastman allegedly communicated in early December 2020 about the plan for the fake electors to meet and cast their Electoral College votes for the former president, despite his loss.
The indictment accuses him of pushing Georgia state lawmakers to appoint an alternate slate of presidential electors and making false claims about the vote-counting taking place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Cheeley is also accused of making false statements to the Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury, which was convened by Willis in May 2022 to aid in her investigation. He declined to comment. Cheeley’s bond is set for $50,000.
Michael Roman
Roman was director of Election Day operations for Trump’s 2020 campaign and is charged with seven counts. His bond is set for $50,000.
He allegedly received documents from Chesebro in December 2020 that were to be used by Trump electors in Georgia to cast fake Electoral College votes for the former president. The charges against Roman stem from the fake electors scheme.
The “fake electors”
On Dec. 14, 2020, Georgia’s members of the Electoral College gathered in the state Capitol to cast their votes for Mr. Biden, because he had won the state. That day, in a different room in the Capitol, a group of 16 alternate or “fake” electors also gathered, ostensibly to vote for Trump. The indictment notes that they later sent fake certificates to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Senate, and the Georgia secretary of state.
In 2022, Willis’ office sent all 16 fake electors letters identifying them as targets of the investigation, but in May lawyer Kimberly Debrow revealed in a court filing that at least half had accepted immunity deals in the case.
Three of them were charged Tuesday.
Cathy Latham
A Republican official, she was seen on surveillance video escorting computer and data experts into the elections office in Coffee County before an apparent breach of the county’s voting systems.
Latham faces a total of 11 counts in the indictment, some of which relate to the scheme to submit a fake slate of presidential electors casting their votes in favor of Trump. The others stem from the effort to allegedly tamper with voting equipment in Coffee County. A request to her for comment was not immediately returned.
Latham’s bond was set for $75,000. She surrendered to authorities for booking overnight on Aug. 23
David Shafer
Shafer is a former state senator and chairman emeritus of the Georgia Republican Party. He has been charged with eight counts, some of which relate to the presidential elector scheme. Shafer’s bond was set for $75,000, and he turned himself in to Fulton County law enforcement for booking overnight on Aug. 23, according to jail records.
According to the indictment, Shafer received an email from Chesebro on Dec. 10, 2020, that allegedly contained documents to be used by the fake electors to cast their votes for Trump. He also allegedly reserved a room in the Georgia State Capitol for a meeting of the alternate electors on Dec. 14, 2020, when presidential electors nationwide met to vote. The indictment claims Shafer falsely claimed to be the chairman of the 2020 Georgia Electoral College meeting.
An attorney for Shafer said he is “totally innocent” of the charges filed against him.
“His conduct regarding the 2020 Presidential election was lawful, appropriate and specifically authorized by the U.S. Constitution, federal and state law and long standing legal precedent,” Charles Gillen, Shafer’s lawyer, said in a statement.
Shawn Still
He is a Republican member of Georgia’s state Senate and is charged with seven counts. The indictment alleges Still falsely claimed to be a presidential elector from Georgia and is accused of misrepresenting himself as the secretary of the 2020 Georgia Electoral College meeting. His bond is set for $10,000.
Tom Bever, a lawyer for Still, told CBS News that “The evidence at trial will show that Sen. Still is innocent as the day is long. We look forward to our day in court to clear his good name.”
Others charged
Trevian Kutti
Trevian Kutti is seen on Dec. 2, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
Daniel Zuchnik / Getty Images
A former publicist for Kanye West, the rapper now known as Ye, Kutti is charged with three counts, two of which relate to a plan to pressure Ruby Freeman, a former election worker in Fulton County.
The charging document states that Kutti traveled to Freeman’s house on Jan. 4, 2021, and unsuccessfully tried to speak with her. Kutti allegedly told a neighbor she was a crisis manager attempting to “help” Freeman. The two spoke on the phone later that day, according to the indictment, and Kutti claimed that Freeman was in danger. Kutti allegedly requested they meet at a Cobb County Police Department precinct, which they did for roughly one hour.
The filing claims Willie Lewis Floyd, another co-defendant, joined the meeting by telephone, and he and Kutti told Freeman “she needed protection and purported to offer her help.” She, along with Lee and Floyd, allegedly aimed to influence Freeman’s testimony in an official proceeding in Fulton County about the events at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Election Day.
Stephen Lee
Lee, a pastor from Illinois, is charged with five counts that involve the attempts to influence Freeman. The indictment says Lee went to Freeman’s home on consecutive days in mid-December 2020 and eventually asked Floyd, who was associated with Black Voices for Trump, for help with speaking to Freeman.
The charging document claims Lee told Floyd that the former election worker was “afraid” to speak with him “because he was a white man.” A request to him for comment was not immediately returned. Lee’s bond is set for $75,000.
Willie Lewis Floyd
Floyd was the director of Black Voices for Trump and faces three criminal charges. The indictment claims he participated in the effort to pressure Freeman to make false statements about the events at the State Farm Arena. A request for comment was not immediately returned.
Scott Hall
Hall is a Georgia bail bondsman who allegedly helped with the unlawful breach of election equipment and theft of voter data in Coffee County, the indictment states. He faces seven counts in all, six of which relate to those efforts. A request to Hall for comment was not immediately returned.
He was booked on Aug. 22, according to Fulton County inmate records, and was the first of the 19 defendants to turn himself in. Hall was released on a $10,000 bond, according to a consent bond order from the Fulton County Superior Court.
Misty Hampton
The final person listed in the indictment, Hampton is the former elections supervisor for Coffee County and faces seven charges.
She is accused of allowing two unnamed co-conspirators to enter non-public areas of the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration office and facilitating their access to voting equipment.
Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Hampton, said in a statement she hasn’t done anything illegal and predicted the prosecution will fail.
“This is a nationally concerted effort to intimidate and silence government whistleblowers and clerks when they react to witnessing election fraud, law violations, and/or vulnerabilities with the election system that contravenes the ‘big lie’ narrative adopted by mainstream media,” Miller said. “When she is found innocent or the case is dismissed will you publish her victory? Please remember in this Country a person is innocent until proven guilty, it is not their job to prove they are innocent as the media so often intimates they must do.”
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is overseeing one of the greatest Murder and Violent Crime DISASTERS in American History,” he wrote.
“In my case, the trip to Atlanta is not for ‘Murder,’ but for making a PERFECT PHONE CALL! She campaigned, and is continuing to campaign, and raise money on, this WITCH HUNT. This is in strict coordination with Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ. It is all about ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
Fulton County prosecutors have charged Trump under Georgia’s racketeering and corrupt organizations statutes, accusing the Republican of hatching a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election so he could remain in office.
The president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former law professor John Eastman also face multiple criminal charges.
Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Aug. 13.
Mike Stobe via Getty Images
Earlier on Monday, the Fulton County district attorney’s office set Trump’s bond at $200,000.
The pretrial release terms also bar Trump, who is a 2024 presidential candidate, from intimidating his co-defendants or witnesses, online or in person.
An order signed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee stated, “The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.”
“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.”
Though Trump is facing criminal charges in four separate matters, the Fulton County case is the first of the four to set cash bail for the self-proclaimed billionaire.
He was released on personal recognizance after being booked in Miami for his alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
In Washington, D.C., Trump was ordered not to communicate with witnesses and/or co-defendants in the federal election subversion case without his lawyer present.
He was instructed to use a lawyer if communicating with anyone involved in his New York City hush money case.
Last week, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said Trump and the co-defendants won’t be getting any special treatment when they show up for arraignment.
“It doesn’t matter your status. We have a mug shot ready for you. Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices,” he told NPR.
Last month, Fani Willis—the Fulton County district attorney investigatingDonald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia—said she would announce any possible indictments for the ex-president and the allies who tried to help him steal a second term between July 11 and September 1. Now, she appears to have signaled even more specific timing: the first three weeks of August. Hopefully the former guy hasn’t booked any nonrefundable summer travel!
The New York Timesreports that, in a letter sent yesterday to 21 Fulton County officials, Willis announced that, due to security concerns surrounding her investigation and the potential criminal charges that could come from it, she will scale back staffing in her office by about 70% and have the majority of people work remotely between July 31 and August 18, when grand juries will be in session. (While a special grand jury spent months hearing evidence in the Trump investigation, Willis must now get approval from a regular grand jury for any possible indictments.) The district attorney noted in the Thursday letter that exceptions to the remote work plan would include “my leadership team” and “all armed investigators.” She added that she “respectfully request(s) that judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during the weeks beginning Monday, Aug. 7, and Monday, Aug. 14.” As the Times notes, “the moves suggest that…Willis…is expecting a grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period.” The outlet also noted that Willis’s timetable was already pushed back at least once as she negotiated cooperation deals, so, obviously, that could happen again; however, the dates laid out in her most recent letter seem pretty specific.
For his part, Trump’s attorneys are still trying to quash the special grand jury’s final report, and get both Willis and the judge presiding over the inquiry thrown off the case. In response to that attempt, Willis wrote in a filing this week that Trump and Co. “are not content to follow the ordinary course of the law. They seek to ‘restrain’ a criminal investigation before any charges are filed or even sought.” In February, when asked about the recommendations the special grand jury made re: which individuals should be charged, jury forewoman Emily Kohrstold the Times it was “not a short list.” Asked whether the ex-president was on it, she added: “You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science.” Speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in March, another juror said of the group’s report: “A lot’s gonna come out sooner or later. And it’s gonna be massive. It’s gonna be massive.”
Last year, Willis sent a letter to the Atlanta field office of the FBI, requesting a risk assessment of the courthouse in downtown Atlanta and for the bureau to “provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents,” noting that Trump had described her and other prosecutors investigating him as “vicious, horrible people” during a rally and demanded protests in their cities. Shortly before his indictment by the Manhattan district attorney for a series of hush money payments he made before the 2016 election, Trump called for “death and destruction.” In another letter, sent to the local sheriff last month, Willis laid out “the need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.”
Trump typically spends the summer at his New Jersey golf course, which would be less than a three-hour flight, should he need to show up at the courthouse to be arraigned (again).
