Georgia election case: Trump, other 18 defendants surrender to authorities

Former President Trump was processed and released on bail.

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.


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Trump attorney Sidney Powell surrenders to authorities

Trump attorney Sidney Powell has surrendered to authorities at the Fulton County Jail for processing, according to the jail's official website.

Powell faces 16 counts in the DA's indictment, including two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit computer theft.

She is accused of conspiring with other co-defendants to commit election fraud by allegedly encouraging and helping people tamper with ballot markers and machines inside an elections office in Coffee County.

Powell's bail was set at $100,000 Wednesday morning.


Judge sets bond for Giuliani at $150,000

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has set bond for former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani at $150,000.

As with all defendants in the case, Giuliani's bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pre-trial services by phone every month, and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.

Giuliani's bond agreement also includes a line to ensure he surrenders at Fulton County Jail by the Friday deadline DA Fani Willis set for all 19 defendants.

"The Defendant shall turn himself into the Fulton County Jail by 12:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, August 25, 2023. If the Defendant does not turn himself into the Fulton County Jail by this date and time, this consent bond order shall be null and void," the consent order said.

Giuliani is expected to surrender at the jail later today, sources have told ABC News.

According to prosecutors, Giuliani aided Trump in perpetrating a sweeping effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, including by making false statements to state election officials.


Giuliani's attorneys to negotiate his bail, say sources

Two of Rudy Giuliani's attorneys are at the Fulton County Courthouse, where sources say they're expected to meet with the district attorney's staff to negotiate the bond agreement for the former New York City mayor.

Both attorneys declined to comment to ABC News.

After his bond is set, Giuliani is expected to surrender later today for processing at the Fulton County Jail.

Giuliani, Trump's one-time personal attorney, faces 13 counts in the DA's indictment, including three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by public officer and three counts of false statements and writing.


Former elections director Misty Hampton gets $10K bond

Judge Scott McAfee signed off on a $10,000 bond for Misty Hampton, the former elections director in Coffee County, who was one of the 19 defendants charged in the Fulton County RICO indictment.

Hampton was present in the county elections office on Jan. 7, 2021, when forensic experts from an Atlanta company were allowed to copy software and data from the county's election equipment, according to prosecutors.

Hampton's bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.


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.

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.

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."