New York [US], August 24: Two of Donald Trump's key election lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, surrendered Wednesday on charges in the Georgia election subversion case.
The scene of Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a notable former federal prosecutor, walking into the Fulton County jail is another amazing moment in the ongoing investigation into Trump and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
One of Trump's most outspoken attorneys in 2020, Giuliani was charged with 13 crimes, including breaking the state's racketeering act, engaging in various criminal conspiracies, and soliciting a public officer in the state to violate their oath.
Giuliani agreed to a $150,000 bond package after flying to Atlanta earlier Wednesday. Powell agreed to $100,000 bond. Powell and Giuliani are among the figured in the alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia to turn themselves in Wednesday. Kenneth Chesebro, the architect of the Trump campaign's fake electors plot, also surrendered.
The former president, meanwhile, will turn himself in on Thursday after agreeing to a $200,000 bond.
Trump will leave his Bedminster golf club in the afternoon and return to New Jersey following his surrender.There are no expected events at his club upon his return. Trump's team has also been making arrangements for him to speak to reporters traveling with him in Georgia, the sources said, though the former president may ultimately choose not to do so.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged Trump and 18 others of participating in schemes to meddle with Georgia's election results. All 19 co-defendants are expected to surrender ahead of a Friday deadline set by Willis when she unveiled last week's sweeping indictment over attempts to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Willis continues to meet with defendants and negotiate terms of a bond agreement.
"Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," reads the indictment from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The former federal prosecutor led efforts to challenge President Joe Biden's victory in several states. In Georgia, according to the indictment, he misled state legislative committees with false claims of election fraud and participated in a scheme to send fake electors to the official Jan. 6 count of votes in Congress, despite a statewide recount requested by Trump that confirmed Biden's win.
"They indicted me for being a lawyer," Giuliani said on his YouTube show after the indictment. In a statement, he described it as "the next chapter in a book of lies with the purpose of framing President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime," adding, "the real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly."
Source: Qatar Tribune