Former President Donald Trump surrendered to and was released by Fulton County officials on Thursday night, setting in motion the next phase in the Georgia election interference case.
Trump and 18 co-defendants are facing sweeping charges, including violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, in alleged efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 general election results. So far, 17 defendants, including Trump, have surrendered to authorities.
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Sixteen of the 17 have been released on bond — Harrison Floyd, head of the group Black Voices for Trump, remains in custody after he failed to negotiate a bond agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘s office.
Trump was released on a $200,000 bond, the highest among the defendants, and took a mug shot — unlike his three previous surrenders in separate criminal cases. Before and after his release in Atlanta, he repeated his claims the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen,” taking shots at Willis for being a “radical Democrat.”
“It’s a very sad day for America. This has never happened. If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election, and I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election,” Trump said before boarding his plane, adding that he did “nothing wrong, and everybody knows it.”
What’s next for the former president and the co-defendants?
Willis made a surprise decision on Thursday and asked for an Oct. 23 trial start date for Trump and his co-defendants.
The district attorney had stated she intended to try all 19 defendants together. Willis had also said since the indictment earlier this month that her team of prosecutors would need roughly six months before a trial could start. Now, she has had to modify her schedule rapidly.
The proposed October date comes after co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro asked for a speedy trial. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee responded on Thursday afternoon, agreeing to the early trial start for Chesebro alone, for now.
Arraignments are already slated to begin next week and run through Sept. 8. McAfee issued a scheduling order for Chesebro’s case, specifically: Chesebro would be arraigned on Sept. 6, and discovery from all parties would be due on Sept. 30.
Under Georgia law, defendants who make demands for a speedy trial in Fulton County are supposed to go to trial within four months. If not, it could be grounds for dismissing the charges altogether.
Trump’s legal counsel responded to Willis’s proposed Oct. 23 date, filing a motion in objection to the start date and alerting her that it would, if necessary, seek to “sever” the former president’s case from Chesebro’s.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, another co-defendant, faces a hearing in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Monday morning over his bid to move the state election case to federal court.
Willis has subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Frances Watson, a lead investigator of 2020 election matters, to appear at the hearing. She also subpoenaed two Trump attorneys, Kurt Hilbert and Alex Kaufman, to appear Monday.
Meadows attempted to postpone and fight his arrest at Fulton County Jail, but he surrendered on Thursday afternoon ahead of Trump.
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When will Trump return to Georgia?
While Trump’s legal team battles with Willis about the trial start date, the former president will have to keep Georgia on his short list of places he’ll be stopping in the coming months. Unlike his previous arrests, Trump wasn’t arraigned on Thursday, so he will have to return to Fulton County and appear before a judge before his trial moves forward.
The timeline for Trump and his co-defendants’ arraignments isn’t clear. However, Willis has proposed in her scheduling order the defendants be arraigned the week of Sept. 5.
