A parade of Donald Trump’s co-defendants setting bond and surrendering at an Atlanta jail is beating a path of accountability that the ex-president and kingpin of the alleged election-meddling conspiracy will follow on one of the most jarring days in presidential history on Thursday.
A parade of Donald Trump’s co-defendants setting bond and surrendering at an Atlanta jail is beating a path of accountability that the ex-president and kingpin of the alleged election-meddling conspiracy will follow on one of the most jarring days in presidential history on Thursday.
But Trump’s fresh attacks on prosecutors and legal maneuvers by some of his ex-aides are underscoring their belief that the law can be defied and that there shouldn’t be consequences for subverting democracy – the same attitude that fueled Trump’s false claims of victory in 2020 and still drive his actions as he seeks a White House return. This is especially concerning given that Trump, despite deciding to skip Wednesday’s first primary debate, has a strong chance of becoming the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 2024.
Once again – as with Trump’s consolidation of a huge chunk of the Republican primary vote through his claims that he’s a victim of a political witch hunt – his potential criminal liability may end up helping him politically. That’s because his scheduled arrest on Thursday will likely overshadow any of his rivals who makes a splash in the debate the night before.
And yet, the flurry of activity on Tuesday in Fulton County, Georgia, showed that more than two years after Trump’s effort to defy the will of voters, the wheels of justice are grinding forward and that consequences may be nearing.
News of bond agreements jockeyed for attention with the first of the former president’s 18 co-defendants turning themselves in for mugshots and fingerprints. Most of the 19 defendants have consented to release conditions, led by the ex-president’s $200,000 bond agreement reached Monday – the first such requirement in his stunning tally of four criminal indictments. Among those who reached bond deals Tuesday were Jenna Ellis, the lawyer who pushed Trump’s election lies but now says she’s been left high and dry by the ex-president with her huge legal costs.
Lawyer John Eastman, who devised a six-step plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, was among the first two defendants to surrender at the jail. Eastman later defiantly claimed the country had crossed a “Rubicon” in the Georgia case and declared he still believed the election was stolen – despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Booking photos of Eastman and bail bondsman Scott Hall, who was the first to surrender, were released later Tuesday.
Meanwhile, intrigue surrounding Mark Meadows deepened as the former White House chief of staff launched an unusual bid to stave off his pending arrest as he seeks to get his case sent to federal court, where he believes it will be dismissed.
And Rudy Giuliani, the hero of 9/11, is set to meet with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday to discuss a bond agreement, sources told CNN. He’s expected to travel to Georgia with former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik – an unindicted co-conspirator in the case – who has been working with the former mayor to help him find a Georgia lawyer, according to one of those sources.
