Donald Trump surrenders in Georgia election plot case

Former US President Donald Trump steps off his plane Trump Force One upon arrival at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on his way to the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 24, 2023. Photo: AFP / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

Former US President Donald Trump has surrendered in Georgia to be arrested on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

The Atlanta jail is expected to require him to take the first ever mugshot for a former American president.

Half of Trump's 18 co-defendants in the case have been processed this week at the same facility.

It marks the fourth time in five months that Trump has been arrested after being indicted by prosecutors.

Trump says the cases are politically motivated because he is leading the Republican race to challenge President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in next year's presidential election.

The former president left New Jersey on his private jet to be booked into the Fulton County Jail on Thursday afternoon after posting on social media that he would "proudly be arrested".

Trump must pay a bail bond of US$200,000 (NZ$338,000) to be released while he awaits trial.

Dozens of his supporters gathered outside the public entrance to the notorious jail, which is being investigated by federal authorities for alleged civil rights violations.

He was charged last week alongside his co-defendants with attempting to subvert the will of the Georgia electorate by meddling in the state's election results following his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The former president was heard in a phone call pressuring Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" during the ballot count.

Among the charges Trump faces are racketeering, soliciting a public official to violate his oath of office, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery and making false statements.

He denies all the counts against him.

His co-accused already booked at the jail in recent days include former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

All 19 defendants faced a deadline of noon on Friday to surrender, or be issued with arrest warrants.

One of Trump's co-defendants, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, Harrison Floyd, is being held in custody after turning himself in on Thursday without a bail agreement, court officials say.

This is the first of his criminal prosecutions in which Trump has had his mugshot taken.

He now joins the ranks of high-profile public figures who have had arrest booking photos taken by police, including Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Al Capone and Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

The image is expected to quickly become one of the widely distributed in American political history.

"We want to put it on a T-shirt," fringe conservative activist Laura Loomer told Reuters news agency outside the jail. "It will go worldwide. It will be a more popular image than the Mona Lisa."

One of the conditions of Trump's bail release is that he refrain from any comments, on social media or otherwise, that are intended to "intimidate" witnesses or co-defendants. He is also not allowed to have any communication with the other co-defendants, except through his lawyers.

Just hours before his surrender on Thursday, Trump replaced his leading defence lawyer, Drew Findling. Veteran Atlanta criminal defence attorney Steven Sadow has agreed to act instead as Trump's lead counsel.

Trump skipped the first Republican 2024 debate on Wednesday night, and instead did a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which began airing online just five minutes before the other candidates' televised showdown was broadcast.

The former president plans to record an interview later on Thursday, after his arrest, with conservative outlet Newsmax.

Before arriving in Georgia, Trump continued to criticise the prosecutor bringing the charges, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, who he accuses of trying to sabotage his White House campaign.

Posting on his Truth Social platform, he blamed Willis for murder and violent crime in Atlanta, writing that "people are afraid to go outside to buy a loaf of bread".

"One big reason is that failed District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is campaigning and fundraising off 'get Trump' (much like the others!), doesn't have the Time, Money, or Interest to go after the real criminals," he wrote.

Earlier on Thursday, a judge in Georgia granted a speedy trial request to one of the co-defendants in the case, attorney Kenneth Chesebro. His trial is now due to begin on 23 October.

The first former or serving US president ever to be indicted, he faces three other criminal cases.

State-by-state primaries - in which Republican voters will choose their party's nominee - are due to begin on 15 January, 2024.

- This story was first published by BBC.