It was announced Monday evening that former President Trump will be processed in Georgia on Thursday. Trump was granted a $200,000 bond on Monday. The document was signed by Fulton Superior Judge Scott McAfee, Trump’s three Atlanta-based attorneys and Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis. The attorneys were seen walking into the Fulton County courthouse Monday afternoon.
There are terms with the bond and some of the co-defendants were also granted bond orders Monday.
Under the terms of the consent bond order, Trump can’t perform any acts of witness intimidation or communicate directly or indirectly about the facts of the case with any codefendants except through his lawyer.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who secured a racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others from a grand jury last week, is giving defendants until Friday at noon to surrender.
A handful of other defendants were also granted bond orders on Monday, including attorneys John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, and Ray Smith. Scott Hall, an Atlanta bail bondsman who was involved in the Coffee County election data breach, also received a bond order.
Trump is barred from using social media to intimidate co-defendants, witnesses, or victims in the case. The bond agreement specifically includes “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.” Trump cannot make any “direct or indirect threat of any nature” against witnesses or co-defendants. He cannot communicate in any way about the facts in the case with any co-defendant or witness, except through attorneys.
Bond, the amount defendants must pay as a guarantee that they will show up in court ahead of trial, was calculated for RICO – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations- with a charge of $80,000, plus $10,000 for each of the 12 other counts Trump is facing. It totaled up to $200,000.
Trump and the 18 co-defendants have until Friday at noon to turn themselves in. Arraignments for the defendants have been proposed by the prosecutor for the week of September 5. Willis wants to have the defendants tried together, with the case going to trial in March 2024, smack dab in the middle of the presidential nominating season. No, no, this isn’t political persecution, why do you ask?
Three lawyers who were indicted with Trump had bond set using the same calculation for the RICO charge as Trump – John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro at $100,000, and Ray Smith’s bond was set at $50,000. A bail bondsman, Scott Hall, had his bond set at $10,000. He is accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County.
As I write this, I have not seen any bond agreements for Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, Rudy Giuliani, or Jeffrey Clark, a Trump administration Justice Department official. He is accused of aiding Trump’s efforts to undo his election loss in Georgia.
Trump’s processing on Thursday will step all over the post-debate chatter on cable news channels, just as Trump wants to do. He desperately wants all attention on only him and to keep the attention of voters off of his challengers. That is Trump being Trump.
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