Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP
Another Trump arrest is upon us this week. For those just tuning in, here’s a rundown of some key updates.
Two of Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants kicked off the surrender parade on Tuesday, with Scott Hall and John Eastman appearing before Fulton County authorities to get booked on charges related to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 presidential election. The bail bondsman and former attorney for Trump, respectively, face a combined total of sixteen charges.
“My legal team and I will vigorously contest every count of the indictment in which I am named, and also every count in which others are named, for which my knowledge of the relevant facts, law, and constitutional provisions may prove helpful,” Eastman wrote in a statement posted on his legal team’s website. “I am confident that, when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all of my co-defendants and I will be fully vindicated.”
Eastman, according to the indictment, was allegedly behind the plan to appoint fake Trump-supporting electors and faces racketeering and conspiracy charges. Eastman was also allegedly involved in the pressure campaign to convince former Vice President Mike Pence not to certify Georgia’s election results. Meanwhile, Fulton County prosecutors have accused Hall, an Atlanta-area bondsman, of participating in the Coffee County voting systems breach. Both men had their bails set at $100,000 and $10,000, respectively.
The remaining defendants are expected to surrender before noon on Friday, August 25. As for the main defendant, Donald J. Trump, the former president announced shortly before his bail was set to $200,000 that he would be turning himself in on Thursday. The bail terms include the provision prohibiting Trump from contacting the case’s witnesses and co-defendants, including on social media.
Trump on Monday predictably took his complaints straight to the internet, attacking prosecutor Fani Willis as a part of the “radical left.” He then appeared to mock the seriousness of the bail terms by joking that he would flee for “Russia, Russia, Russia,” to hang out in a “gold domed suite” with Vladimir Putin.
