Former President Donald Trump and the 18 other defendants charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia all surrendered to authorities at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.
Trump and 17 other defendants were processed and released on bail, with one defendant held without bond. Several defendants also mounted legal challenges to the DA's case.
Rudy Giuliani, who is facing 13 charges in connection with the effort to overturn election results in Georgia, spoke outside his apartment in New York City early Wednesday before heading to Fulton County to surrender.
"I'm going to Georgia and I'm feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I'm defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney," Giuliani said.
Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters as he leaves his apartment building in New York, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023.
Seth Wenig/AP
"The system of justice is politicized and criminalized for politics," he added. "Your rights are in jeopardy and your children's. Donald Trump told you this. They weren't just coming for him. Well, me. Now they've indicted people."
One-time Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani aided Trump in perpetrating a sweeping effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state, according to prosecutors in Fulton County, including by making false statements to state election officials and contributing to the harassment of two election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Aug 23, 2023, 8:45 AM EDT
Latham, Shafer also turn themselves in
Two more of former President Trump's co-defendants have surrendered to Fulton County authorities early Wednesday, according to online jail records: Cathy Latham and David Shafer.
Latham, the former GOP chair in Coffee County, is one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state.
Shafer, former Georgia Republican Party chair, is another of the fake Trump electors. He is also among the early defendants to seek to move the case into federal court.
-ABC News' Aaron Katersky
Aug 23, 2023, 8:37 AM EDT
Bond set for more than half of defendants
Attorney John Eastman was booked and released on $100,000 bond Tuesday at the Fulton County Jail, as the 18 defendants charged alongside former President Trump in the sweeping Georgia election interference racketeering case began turning themselves in.
Eastman told reporters on his way out of the facility that he plans to "vigorously contest every count of the indictment."
Co-defendant Scott Hall was also processed and released Tuesday, one day after Judge McAfee set his bail at $10,000. Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman, is among those accused of conspiring to commit election fraud in Coffee County.
Scott Hall in a booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, Aug. 22, 2023. The bail bondsman, who was accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County, Ga., turned himself in to the Fulton County Jail. Hall is charged alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others, who are accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters to keep the Republican president in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Fulton County Sheriff's Office via AP
After an indictment has been handed down in Georgia, bond and conditions of release are typically worked out prior to any surrender. The bond can be paid through cash, a commercial surety, or a court program that requires a payment of 10% of the bond amount.
By the end of the day Tuesday, bond had been set for more than half of the 19 defendants in the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis' bail at $100,000, a day after he set former President Donald Trump's bond at $200,000.
Ellis is accused of making false statements to overturn the 2020 election and of soliciting public officials to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.
Later Tuesday the judge set bond for Stephen Lee, a pastor, at $75,000, and for Georgia lawyer Robert Cheeley at $50,000.
John Eastman in a booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, Aug. 22, 2023. Eastman, the conservative attorney who pushed a plan to keep Donald Trump in power, turned himself in to authorities Tuesday on charges in the Georgia case alleging an illegal plot to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss.
Fulton County Sheriff's Office via AP
According to investigators, Cheeley presented video clips to legislators of election workers at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and alleged that the workers were counting votes twice or sometimes three times. Prosecutors say Lee worked with others to try to pressure Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman and her daughter after Trump and his allies falsely accused them of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase during the vote count.
McAfee also Tuesday set bail of $75,000 for former Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham, and $50,000 for former Trump campaign official Michael Roman.
Latham is one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state, while Roman served as director of Election Day operations for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign and was involved in the plan to organize the so-called "fake electors" in battleground states.
All 19 defendants have been been given until Friday at noon to surrender. Trump said Monday evening on his social media platform that he intends to surrender in Georgia on Thursday.
In addition to Trump, Judge McAfee set bond Monday for attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro at $100,000, for Ray Smith III at $50,000, and for Scott Hall at $10,000.
All the defendants' bond agreements include a provision that they "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."
