Donald Trump has announced he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday as he awaits trial for attempting to reverse his 2020 state election loss.
“Can you believe it? I will fly to Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” he said former US President wrote on his social media network Truth Social on Monday, hours after his bail was set at $200,000 (£157,000).
Trump was Ordered not to send threatening social media messages to co-defendants, witnesses or victims, the bail agreement signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Trump's defense attorneys and the judge said. This expressly includes “posts on social media or reposts of posts” created by others.
He was also barred from communicating with co-defendants or witnesses in any way about the facts, except through lawyers.
Image: AP
Trump was indicted in the Georgia case last week along with 18 co-defendantsthe fourth indictment against him since April, when he became the first former president in US history to be indicted.
His performances in New York, Florida and Washington DC were a box office event in the media. The former president has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump has repeatedly used social media to attack those involved in the criminal proceedings against him in his 2024 campaign to take back the White House.
He railed against Ms Willis before he was charged and named Florida Gov. Brian Kemp – a Republican who had rebuffed his efforts to overturn the election – in a social media post Monday morning.
Ms. Willis gave Trump and his 18 co-defendants a 12:00 p.m. deadline Friday for them to present themselves at the Fulton County jail and be arrested there.
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Sky's Dominic Waghorn explains Trump's latest allegations
The process could take place during presidential nomination season
The prosecutor proposed charges against the defendants during the week of September 5 and said she wanted to try the defendants together and bring the case to trial in March, which would bring it to the presidential nominations stage.
Prosecutors have proposed the trial begin on March 4, 2024, while Trump's attorneys have called for a 2026 start.
Mr. Trump's appearance in Georgia will come a day after the first Republican primary debate he has decided to skip.
He is expected to appear in the Fulton County Jail, where the Justice Department last month opened a civil rights investigation into prison conditions, citing dirty cells, violence and last year's death of a man whose body was covered mostly with insects was found covered in the psychiatric wing of the prison. Three people have died in Fulton County custody in the past month.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said there would be a “hard lockdown” around the jail if Trump surrendered.
Trump is not expected to spend much time there.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed charges against Trump
Trump allies turn themselves in
It comes as the first of Trump's co-defendants surrendered in prison. His former attorney, John Eastman, and Republican election observer Scott Hall both turned themselves in to the county sheriff's office.
Charges against Trump include “soliciting a public official to violate his oath” – that is, attempting to persuade someone to commit treason.
The 13 charges also include forgery and extortion, most commonly used against members of organized crime groups.
Under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Law, it is a criminal offense to engage in, gain control of, or gain control of, or conspire to engage in an “enterprise” through a “pattern of extortion activity.” .
The plan does not have to have been successful to be classified as a criminal.
