CNN
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Former President Donald Trump plans to turn himself in to the Fulton County Jail on Thursday after he agreed to a $200,000 bond and other release conditions on Monday.
“I’m going to Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday to be arrested,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial, confirming an earlier CNN report from two sources familiar with the plan.
Several co-defendants in a Georgia fraud case have agreed to the terms of bond agreements with the district attorney’s office.
Trump’s attorneys Jennifer Little, Drew Findling and Marisa Goldberg met with the district attorney’s office on Monday before details of the bond deal were released. Little, Fineling and Goldberg are in the state. Other Trump lawyers are working behind the scenes on the approach to bond and Trump’s impending arrest, including Todd Blanch, who has led Trump’s primary defense attorney throughout many of his criminal charges.
The release conditions outlined in Trump’s bond order are more extensive than those outlined in others approved earlier in the case on Monday.
Unlike some of his co-defendants, the former president is expressly prohibited from using social media to target his 18 co-defendants and witnesses and 30 unindicted co-conspirators in the case.
The order, signed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, states that “the defendant shall not take any action to intimidate or obstruct the administration of justice to any person known to him as a co-accused or witness in this case.”
“The above includes, but is not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another person on social media,” the order said.
The Fulton County election tampering case marks the first time Trump’s release conditions include cash bond and a ban on intimidation through social media.
This is the fourth criminal case against the former president this year. In previous cases, the conditions for Trump’s release after arrest and pending trial were often routine.
Trump was released on personal recognizance in the Mar-a-Lago documents case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith in Florida, although there were some objections from his lawyers to restrictions on his contact with witnesses in the case.
Trump was acquitted with minimal conditions in Smith’s election tampering case brought in Washington, D.C. Those conditions include not allowing contact with anyone who is a witness in the case, except through a lawyer. In the New York hush money case, Trump was ordered not to contact anyone central to the case except through one of his lawyers.
In addition to Trump’s bond orders, several other defendants approved bond orders on Monday. Conservative attorney John Eastman reached a $100,000 bond deal with Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, and bail bondsman Scott Hall also reached a bond deal with Willis. Hall’s bond was set at $10,000.
Kenneth Chesbro’s bond was set at $100,000 and Ray Smith’s bond was set at $50,000.
Bond orders include similar language for release that defendants must report to pretrial supervision every 30 days, and may do so by telephone. They are also barred from communicating with the other 18 co-defendants or witnesses in the case.
The 19 defendants indicted last week, including Trump, are expected to turn themselves in this week ahead of a Friday deadline set by Willis, following sweeping allegations last week about Trump’s efforts to sway the 2020 election.
According to a new filing Monday, Eastman plans to surrender to Fulton County authorities on Wednesday — the first confirmation of a date when one of his 18 co-defendants outside of Trump will turn themselves in for arrest and processing.
The conservative attorney is facing disciplinary action at the State Bar of California, which could result in the loss of his license to practice law in the state. Hearings were set for several days this week, but a judge at the State Bar Court of California said Monday night that Eastman would not appear before him Tuesday and Wednesday because of his upcoming surrender.
“Based on recent email exchanges between and among the parties, the court is prepared to make some adjustments to this week’s hearing schedule to accommodate Dr. Eastman’s surrender in Fulton County, Georgia, which the court understands will take place on Wednesday, August 23,” Judge Yvette Rowland said. wrote in the court order.
In a typical case in Fulton County, when police make an arrest, the arrestee is booked into jail and must appear before a magistrate judge within 72 hours. The defendants in this fraud case often don’t have that. Because they have already been charged and are expected to negotiate release and bail terms before surrendering to jail, they most likely will not appear in initial court, lawyers told CNN.
Law enforcement presence at the Fulton County Courthouse is high. Dozens of law enforcement vehicles are parked in a two-block perimeter around the courthouse and government center where 19 defendants are expected to negotiate release and bond terms with the district attorney’s office.
Law enforcement officers from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office lead security outside the buildings, but there are also members of other agencies and departments, such as the U.S. Marshals Service and the Atlanta Police Department, who are responsible for courthouse security. The area was seen patrolling and staged outside the public entrances.
Barricades around the Fulton County Courthouse will remain in place through Saturday, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office on Monday. The deadline for defendants to recuse themselves is Friday at 12 noon ET.
This story and topic have been updated with additional improvements.
Correction: This story has been corrected to identify which lawyers from Trump’s team met with officials at the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.
