Closing summary
Donald Trump’s co-defendants reported to the Fulton county jail in Georgia after being indicted last week by district attorney Fani Willis on charges related to their roles in trying to overturn the 2020 election. Among them was Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate who advised Trump during his presidency, and Sidney Powell, another attorney for the ex-president. Authorities in Georgia released mugshots of all the defendants who have surrendered thus far, including Giuliani and Powell, both of whom were released. Separately, a federal judge turned down an attempt by defendants Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, and Jeff Clark, an ex-justice department official friendly to his false claims about his election defeat, to avoid their arrest in Fulton county. Both now have until Friday to report to jail.
This blog is about to close, but the blogging is far from finished. We are launching a separate blog dedicated to covering this evening’s Republican presidential debate, as well as Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson. Follow along at the link here:
Donald Trump’s defense attorneys may be breathing a sigh of relief after the former president opted to skip the first debate of the Republican primaries. Why? The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has the answer:
Donald Trump’s decision to spurn the Republican primary debate on Wednesday in favor of a pretaped interview with Tucker Carlson solves the political question of how to inflict damage on the 2024 field, but it also eliminates concerns his remarks in the high-profile event could increase his legal exposure.
The former president confirmed over the weekend that he would not attend the debate in Milwaukee, saying in a post on his Truth Social platform: “New CBS poll, just out, has me leading the field by ‘legendary’ numbers … I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES.”
Instead, Trump has settled on counter-programming the debate by having the interview he recorded with the former Fox News host air at the same time, with the aim of starving the other Republican presidential candidates of attention and publicly humiliating Fox News, which is hosting the debate with the Republican National Committee.
The move to upstage the debate tackles Trump’s political goals for his 2024 campaign, but it also quietly eliminates worries that Trump could deepen his legal jeopardy were he to be questioned about his four criminal cases by debate moderators or the other candidates.
Updated
Tucker Carlson releases teaser of Trump interview
Tucker Carlson has just posted a short teaser of his interview with Donald Trump that will air this evening at the same time as the first debate of the Republican primary – which the ex-president said he will not attend. You can watch the clip here:
Donald Trump. Tucker Carlson.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 23, 2023
Debate Night in Bedminster
8:55pm ET pic.twitter.com/w8nGhOfEdv
Carlson’s still trying to find his feet after Fox News booted him earlier this year, but he remains an influential voice in rightwing media and Trumpworld, especially.
Updated
The White House put out a statement about Donald Trump’s prerecorded interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the former president’s choice of counter-programming to the Republican debate in Wisconsin tonight, an event Trump is skipping while leading polling by around 40 points.
“In his softball ‘interview’ posting tonight, Donald Trump will again make clear that he’s running on the same extreme and deeply unpopular Maga [Make America great again] agenda the American people have rejected time and time again,” spokesperson Kevin Munoz said, in a statement first released to the Hill.
“Instead of explaining his broken promises to Wisconsin and the 13,000 Foxconn manufacturing jobs that never were, we’ll likely hear him double down on his most out-of-touch positions, including his support for wild, debunked conspiracy theories and a national abortion ban,” Munoz said.
(For more on Trump, Wisconsin and Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant, see below.)
Munoz also had words for the contenders on stage in Wisconsin, saying: “That same extreme and unpopular agenda will be on display in Milwaukee later tonight by Maga Republican candidates doing their best impressions of Donald Trump. The American people rejected these extreme ideas in 2018, 2020, and 2022 – and they will again in November 2024.”
Polling regarding a notional general election rematch between Trump and Joe Biden generally shows close contests.
Biden, who is on holiday in Nevada, briefly addressed the Republican debate earlier today. Asked if he was going to watch, he told reporters: “I’m going to try to see – get as much as I can, yes.”
The pool report added: “Asked what his expectations were, he smiled broadly and laughed. ‘I have none.’
“‘Thank you all,’ he added, and then walked to the car.
“He was wearing a blue ballcap, aviators, and a teal sweater. He had what looked to be an iced coffee in his hand.”
Updated
Meadows and Clark lose in attempts to avoid surrender
Hugo Lowell reports:
Just in: A federal judge has denied former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request for an emergency order to prevent his arrest at the Fulton county jail while he tries to have his case removed to federal court.
Furthermore:
A federal judge has denied former Trump Justice department official Jeff Clark’s request for an emergency stay to avoid having to surrender at the Fulton county jail, after he filed to have his case removed to federal court. Clark has until Friday at noon to travel to Atlanta for booking.
Updated
In a fundraising email to supporters, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott offers a (very basic) taste of what he might offer on the debate stage in Milwaukee tonight.
“If you had told 7-year-old Tim Scott he would one day be on a presidential debate stage, he would NOT believe you,” the email says.
Seven-year-old Tim might also not have believed that his grown-up self would take his debate stage bow with just 1% support, a mere 51 points behind the frontrunner, Donald Trump. But I digress.
The email continues: “I’m a child of divorce. When I was 7, my mom, my older brother, and I moved into a two-bedroom rental house that we shared with my grandparents.
“My Mama and Granddaddy told me you can be bitter or you can be better. You can be a victim or you can choose victory. Well Friend, I’m ready to choose victory!
“Tonight, I’ll share why the truth of my life disproves the Left’s lies and why I believe America can do for anyone what she’s done for me.”
What Scott might do in the primary remains of course to be seen. He has big support from the Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and with a big debate performance, who knows.
But the signs are not particularly rosy, even when one zeroes in on Iowa, the first state to vote and one where evangelical Christians, a key Scott constituency, are strong.
Over the weekend, a major poll from NBC News and the Des Moines Register put the senator in third place. That was better than his position in national averages (linked to above). But though Scott had 9% support, Ron DeSantis of Florida had 19% and Trump – thrice-married and an adjudicated rapist yet still the No 1 choice for Christian conservatives – had 42%.
Updated
Marjorie Taylor Greene: my name is on a list for Trump VP
Our Washington bureau chief reports from Milwaukee, ahead of tonight’s Republican debate …
Donald Trump is missing from the first Republican primary debate but his supporters are not. Nine hours before kick-off, they were roving outside the venue wearing “Make America great again” caps and brandishing signs mocking the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.
Some of the former president’s allies in the US Congress, such as Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, are also here. Sitting in a hotel lobby, Greene told the Guardian that she backs Trump’s decision to stay away.
“I told him to skip it,” the far-right congresswoman and conspiracy theorist said. “It’s a waste of his time.
“He’s winning by over 60%, poll after poll depending on what state you’re looking at and the national poll. It’s a complete waste of his time to step out on a stage and be the centre of the attacks when he has a four-year record as president that everybody wants back and none of those people on the stage have anything that they can compare to him.”
There has been speculation that Trump could choose Greene as his running mate.
She said: “Well, I’d have to think about it and consider it. It’s talked about frequently and I know my name is on a list but really my biggest focus right now is serving the district that elected me.
“That’s of course a decision that President Trump has to make. I don’t know who that person is going to be and I don’t even think they’re going to be on that debate stage. I’ll argue that. But, of course, that’s up to him. But I would be honoured and consider it. But my most important job is, of course, to serve the American people and I’ll help him do whatever in any way I can.”
Greene said the three Republicans she talks to most frequently are Trump, Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, and James Comer, chairman of the House oversight committee. Do they all seem to be on the same page?
“A lot of times, yeah. Not all the time but a lot of times. It just depends on the issue.”
Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. It is Greene’s home state but she dismisses the sweeping indictment as “garbage” and has not read it.
“I wouldn’t waste five seconds of my time,” she said.
Updated
Mugshots of Rudy Giuliani and co-defendants released by Fulton county
Booking pictures of those Trump aides and allies who have so far surrendered in Georgia have now been released.
Here is the official booking picture of Giuliani:
Here are some for more of the co-defendants:
Updated
Some levity, of a sort, for those wanting a slightly different angle on what until relatively recently would have been the outlandish, outrageous prospect of a former US president being booked at an Atlanta jail on charges including racketeering and conspiracy, related to an attempt to overturn an election.
Bookies are offering punters the chance to bet on what Donald Trump’s recorded weight will be when he surrenders at the Fulton County Jail tomorrow. As the Daily Beast puts it, perennially pleasingly snarky…
The line currently sits over/under 278.5lb, a far cry from the 244lb White House physician Sean Conley recorded for Trump in 2020.
As the Beast also notes, part of punters’ interest in the former president’s avoirdupois is fueled by the purest schadenfreude, if I might overdo the pretentious italics. Trump, of course, has a habit of abusing his opponents, critics and enemies – see Christie, Chris and O’Donnell, Rosie, passim – about their body mass index.
Trump’s height will also be taken. His 2020 White House physical said he was 6ft 3in tall. There is speculation, widespread, that the truth is different:
There's been speculation -- and betting -- about Trump's weigh-in tomorrow. A related question: Will the deputies make him remove the lifts from his shoes before measuring his height? https://t.co/dSDifJE3TD
— Jack Pitney (@jpitney) August 23, 2023
Updated
Here’s a slightly fuller version of comments from Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor turned Trump attorney, after his surrender in Atlanta on charges including conspiracy and racketeering.
Speaking to reporters, and laughing as he did so, Giuliani said he was “very, very honoured to be involved in this case because this case is a fight for our way of life”.
“This indictment is a travesty,” he said. “It’s an attack on not just me, not just President [Donald] Trump, this is an attack on the American people. If this could happen to me, who is probably the most prolific prosecutor maybe in American history and the most effective mayor for sure, it can happen to you.”
Giuliani was indeed a prolific prosecutor, back in New York before he became mayor and briefly, after leading New York on and after 9/11, dreamt of a rise to the White House.
As US attorney in Manhattan, he memorably cracked down on organised crime by using racketeering statutes.
It’s safe to say his current predicament in relation to similar such statutes … has been noticed by quite a few observers.
I typed “Giuliani irony” into Google, and this and this and this came up. And more.
Here, meanwhile, is some further reading about what Michael Cohen, another Trump attorney who turned on his old boss after being sent to jail, had to say the other day about Trump, Giuliani and the concept of payment for legal services rendered …
Updated
Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota and GOP presidential candidate, said he will consult a physician before deciding if he will participate at tonight’s debate, after injuring his leg at a basketball game yesterday.
Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash, Burgum said his debate walkthrough went well despite tearing his achilles tendon.
.@DougBurgum tells @DanaBashCNN that his debate walkthrough went well despite tearing his Achilles tendon yesterday but says he’s going to consult a physician before deciding if he will participate at tonight’s Republican debate. pic.twitter.com/J5r3P82HqC
— Greg Hughes (@newsbyhughes) August 23, 2023
Fulton County officials have released the mug shot of Kenneth Chesebro, the alleged architect of Donald Trump’s fake electors plot.
Chesebro surrendered at the Fulton county jail earlier on Wednesday.
Here’s the mug shot, as shared by CBS’ Scott MacFarlane:
NEW: Booking photo for Kenneth Chesebro in Fulton County, Georgia
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 23, 2023
Chesebro was also a figure in the House Jan 6 Select Committee probe, accused of drafting strategy to overturn election pic.twitter.com/jKbgZAf75B
Rudy Giuliani claims he is being indicted because he was a lawyer for Donald Trump.
The former New York mayor accuses the FBI of having “stole(n) my iCloud account the day that I began representing Donald Trump”.
Rudy Giuliani says the Fulton county district office’s case against him, Donald Trump and his co-defendants is “an attack on the American people”.
“If they can do this to me, they can do this to you,” he tells reporters.
Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis “will go down in American history for having conducted one of the worst attacks on the American constitution”, Giuliani says.
Giuliani says he is 'very honored' to be involved in Georgia election subversion case
Rudy Giuliani is speaking to reporters after he surrendered to authorities at the Fulton county jail on charges that he helped lead a racketeering enterprise and conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Asked if he regretted attaching his name to Donald Trump, Giuliani replied:
I am very, very honoured to be involved in this because this case is a fight for our way of life.
This indictment is a travesty. It’s an attack on not just me, not just President Trump, not just the people in this indictment, some of them I don’t even know.
Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis sharply rejected efforts by two of Donald Trump’s co-defendants – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark – to move their sprawling racketeering cases to federal court.
From my colleague Sam Levine:
Fulton county DA Fani Willis rebuts @JeffClarkUS request to have a federal court halt his surrender in GA. "As inconvenient as modern air travel can admittedly be..." https://t.co/ZQrZebyZhs h/t @stphnfwlr pic.twitter.com/HktxSyycBe
— Sam Levine (@srl) August 23, 2023
Rudy Giuliani left Manhattan in the morning to travel to Atlanta with his lead lawyer, John Esposito, on a private jet, though the source of the funding for the plane remains uncertain given Giuliani has struggled financially in the wake of mounting legal bills.
Giuliani’s financial trouble stemming from having to retain lawyers for the congressional and federal criminal investigations into efforts to subvert the 2020 election results have become particularly acute in recent weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The money problems have been exacerbated by Giuliani’s recent setbacks in court – including in a defamation case against two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of stealing ballots – and the suspension of his law license over his election subversion efforts means he has few income streams.
The situation has led to Giuliani listing his Manhattan apartment for sale for more than $6m. He also travelled to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in April to ask the former president to help pay his legal bills after Trump rejected his earlier entreaties for support, the people said.
When that trip failed to convince Trump to have his Save America political action committee pay for Giuliani’s legal bills, in the way that Trump has doled out $21m for aides’ legal bills tied up in the criminal investigations, Giuliani’s son Andrew made his own trip to see Trump.
Trump has never explained why he has consistently refused to help Giuliani, but people in his orbit point to Trump’s complaints that Giuliani was defeated in almost every 2020 election lawsuit that he brought.
But the meeting with Andrew Giuliani appears to have helped, and Trump agreed to attend two fundraisers, the people said. Trump will host a $100,000-per-person fundraiser at his Bedminster club in New Jersey next month, according to an invitation reviewed by the New York Times.
Rudy Giuliani’s surrender to authorities at the Fulton county jail marks a jarring moment for Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor who made his name with aggressive racketeering cases, now facing a racketeering charge himself.
Alongside Donald Trump, Giuliani faces the most charges in the sprawling 41-count indictment handed up by a grand jury last week that described how he played a principal role in marshalling fake slates of electors among other schemes to reverse Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
The bond for Giuliani was set at $150,000 after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis earlier in the day. The amount was slightly less than the $200,000 bond for Trump but more than the $100,000 bond for another former Trump lawyer, Sidney Powell.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden and his family are on vacation in Lake Tahoe.
The president, first lady and members of the Biden family “are taking a Pilates class followed by a spin class”, the White House said earlier.
AP’s Seung Min Kim shared a photo of Biden after his pilates and spin classes:
Biden, holding onto a post-workout drink after Pilates and spin at Pelodog, tells us of the plane crash in Russia:
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) August 23, 2023
“There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind but I don’t know enough to know the answer.” pic.twitter.com/yB2sPhqQ1W
Updated
Democrats will be denied political oxygen on Wednesday night but hope to turn this to their advantage by framing all the Republican candidates as Donald Trump-adjacent extremists.
At a press conference on the top floor of a downtown Milwaukee hotel, Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said:
Tonight, in prime time, Americans will have an opportunity to see in action the most extreme, the most divisive, the most chaotic slate of presidential candidates in history when these Maga 2024 Republicans take the debate stage here in Milwaukee, and I don’t know if it’s going to be a debate, but more like a circus.
They may try to differentiate themselves but the truth is that every single one of these candidates from Donald Trump on down are extreme.
Harrison went on to list the candidates one by one, setting out their positions on abortion, pushing conspiracy theories and past associations with the Tea Party or Trump.
No matter who you pick, this group is as extreme as it gets. A bag full of Maga apples and they are all rotten. They are wildly out of step with the American people.
He attempted to draw a contrast between the two parties. “We believe that our better days as a nation are ahead of us, not behind us. They believe that our better days are behind us and that is the difference in this election.
Joe Biden wakes up every day thinking about how to make the lives of the American people better. They wake up every day thinking about how do I get back in power? That is the difference between the Democratic party led by Joe Biden and a Republican party led by Maga extremists.
Satya Rhodes-Conway, the mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, accused Republicans of pushing a national abortion ban. “Let me be crystal clear about this: the 2024 Maga Republican presidential candidates are running on their extreme anti-choice records,” she said.
I’m sure that they’re going to talk about freedom on the debate stage tonight. But what about the freedom to make my own health care decisions? I guess that their version of freedom doesn’t include women.
Rhodes-Conway added:
Here’s the bottom line: the American people don’t want anything to do with their abortion bans. Voters in states all across this great country, including right here in Wisconsin, have made it clear that the craven abortion bans are wildly unpopular and out of step with the American public.
Rudy Giuliani has turned himself in at the Fulton county jail over charges tied to his efforts to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The former New York City mayor and longtime Trump ally faces 13 charges that include racketeering, soliciting lawmakers to violate their oaths of office, making false statements and conspiracy counts dealing with the recruitment of fake electors.
Here’s a look at the Fulton county jail records, as shared by NBC’s Blayne Alexander:
BREAKING: Rudy Giuliani has been booked into the Fulton County jail, according to jail records. pic.twitter.com/CWBvLgMcwB
— Blayne Alexander (@ReporterBlayne) August 23, 2023
Rudy Giuliani surrenders in elections racketeering case
Rudy Giuliani has arrived at the Fulton county jail and surrendered to authorities, according to the county sheriff’s website.
The former New York mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump faces charges in the sprawling Georgia elections racketeering case. At a meeting earlier today with Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis’ team, Giuliani’s bond was set at $150,000.
“I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I am defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney,” Giuliani told reporters in New York this morning.
Updated
Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell surrenders to Fulton county authorities
Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Donald Trump heavily involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, has surrendered to Fulton county authorities, according to county records.
Updated
South Carolina’s all-male highest court upholds six-week abortion ban
South Carolina’s new all-male highest court on Wednesday reversed course on abortion rights, upholding the state’s strict six-week ban on the procedure.
The panel overrode an earlier decision in which the court decided a similar restriction was unconstitutional.
The court on Wednesday found that the state constitution’s protection against “unreasonable invasions of privacy” did not include a right to abortion, and that the state law was “within the zone of reasonable policy decisions rationally related to the state’s interest in protecting the unborn”.
A judge in May had put a temporary halt to South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy until the state supreme court could review the measure. The ruling at the time, by Judge Clifton Newman, came just about 24 hours after the state governor, Henry McMaster, signed the bill, and meant South Carolina reverted back to a ban at about 20 weeks after fertilization.
The new ruling is a blow to reproductive rights campaigners. On Wednesday, McMaster hailed the decision, issuing a statement saying:
The supreme court’s ruling marks a historic moment in our state’s history and is the culmination of years of hard work and determination by so many in our state to ensure that the sanctity of life is protected.
It went on:
With this victory, we protect the lives of countless unborn children and reaffirm South Carolina’s place as one of the most pro-life states in America.
The decision was 4-1, with the chief justice, Donald Beatty, in the minority.
Caroline Sacerdote, a staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights who helped bring the lawsuit against the new six-week ban, said:
This decision is devastating not only because of the impact it will have on South Carolinians, but also because South Carolina is a critical state for access across the entire south-east region.
Six defendants in Georgia election case have surrendered so far
The first six defendants in the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and 18 other defendants have been booked in the Fulton county jail so far.
The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, who delivered the sweeping indictment last week, has given all 19 defendants until noon this Friday, 25 August, to voluntarily surrender.
The six defendants who have already been booked in the Fulton county jail are:
Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman
John Eastman, a former Trump attorney
Kenneth Chesebro, a pro-Trump attorney
Cathy Latham, former chair of the Coffee county Republican party
David Shafer, Georgia GOP chair and fake elector
Ray Smith, a former Trump attorney
Trump, whose bond has been set at $200,000 and was charged with 13 felony counts, said he plans to turn himself in on Thursday.
Updated
Rudy Giuliani reaches $150,000 bail agreement in Georgia election case
Rudy Giuliani has reached a $150,000 bond agreement with the Fulton county district attorney’s office.
From my colleague Hugo Lowell:
New: Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s attorneys have agreed a $150,000 bond with the Fulton County DA’s office
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 23, 2023
Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump lawyer, faces 13 charges including racketeering, three counts of soliciting lawmakers to violate their oaths of office, three counts of making false statements and six conspiracy counts dealing with the recruitment of fake electors.
Updated
Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she will not vote to fund president Joe Biden’s plan to expand global vaccine accessibility following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Greene, a fierce Biden critic, tweeted:
I will NOT vote to fund your COVID mental illness forcing masks and vaccines on anyone! Especially NOT children!
Dear President Psychopath,
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 22, 2023
You signed a resolution into law that stated the COVID-19 pandemic is OVER!!!!
I will NOT vote to fund your COVID mental illness forcing masks and vaccines on anyone!
Especially NOT children!
Investigate the VAERS reports & stop serving Big Pharma. pic.twitter.com/O3k9Zz2Hnd
Donald Trump’s co-defendant Mark Meadows has asked a federal court to block his arrest in Georgia.
Mary Yang reports:
Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, has asked a federal court to block his arrest in an emergency motion, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
Meadows, a named defendant in the sweeping election interference case against Donald Trump and 18 others in Fulton county, Georgia, has requested the case be moved to federal court, saying the charges concern his actions as an officer of the federal government.
Trump’s legal team is also expected to argue that the case should be moved to federal court because he was acting in the capacity of president.
In the Tuesday emergency motion, Meadows asked the court to “protect” him from arrest before a Monday, 28 August, hearing on his request to move the case out of the Fulton county superior court to the district court of northern Georgia.
For the full story, click here:
Giuliani lawyers arrive at Fulton county DA building
Several lawyers of former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani have walked into the Fulton county district attorney building, according to The Guardian’s reporter Hugo Lowell.
New: Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s local counsel Brian Tevis just walked into the Fulton County DA building
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 23, 2023
Also currently in the Fulton County DA’s office, per person familiar: Giuliani’s other lawyer John Esposito, who travelled with him from New York
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 23, 2023
Updated
Interim Summary
It is shortly past 1:30pm in Washington DC. Here is where the day’s key events stand:
Donald Trump – seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus – in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place on Thursday evening during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks. Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the primetime scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday.
A plane carrying Rudy Giuliani has landed at Atlanta’s Dekalb-Peachtree airport. The former New York mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump is expected to surrender to face charges in the sprawling Georgia elections racketeering case later today.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers could formally launch an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden next month when they return from summer recess. During an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday night, McCarthy said the Republican-led House will move forward with an impeachment inquiry if the Bidens do not “provide us the documents we’re asking.”
Misty Hampton, the former elections supervisor for Coffee county, has reached a $10,000 bond agreement with prosecutors in Fulton count, according to court documents. Hampton’s bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.
A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers last month and implicated the former president in new information, according to the justice department. The witness, a Trump employee identified elsewhere as Mar-a-Lago director of information technology, Yuscil Taveras, initially testified to a grand jury in Washington DC that he was unaware of any effort to erase surveillance video at the Florida property.
North Dakota governor and Republican presidential hopeful Doug Burgum injured himself playing basketball on Tuesday, leaving in doubt his participation in the first Republican presidential debate tonight. Burgum, 67, was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room after injuring his leg while playing a game of pick-up basketball with his staff, CNN reported, citing a source. He was discharged from the hospital the same day.
Fulton county officials released the first two booking photos of defendants in the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and allies. John Eastman, who is alleged to have orchestrated the so-called fake elector plot that aimed to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election, surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Tuesday. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who is accused of a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee county, was also booked in on Tuesday.
Updated
In a quick pivot to the Russia-Ukraine war, the the Russian Civil Aviation Authority announced that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was on the passenger list of a plane that crashed in the Tver region.
Our colleagues are bringing the latest updates on this story over at our Russia-Ukraine live blog which can be found here:
Updated
Rudy Giuliani is expected to meet with his attorneys at a local law office in Atlanta before a meeting with the Fulton county district attorney’s office to discuss terms of a bond agreement, CNN reported.
Giuliani’s attorneys were seen entering a local law office after touching down in Atlanta, the report said.
The former New York mayor and Trump attorney, who landed in Georgia earlier this morning, is expected to surrender to authorities once a bond agreement is reached.
Giuliani faces 13 charges in the Georgia election subversion case, including racketeering, three counts of soliciting lawmakers to violate their oaths of office, three counts of making false statements and six conspiracy counts dealing with the recruitment of fake electors.
Updated
House could launch Biden impeachment inquiry next month, says Kevin McCarthy
House speaker Kevin McCarthy said lawmakers could formally launch an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden next month when they return from summer recess.
During an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday night, McCarthy said the Republican-led House will move forward with an impeachment inquiry if the Bidens do not “provide us the documents we’re asking”.
“If they provide us the documents, there wouldn’t be a need for an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said.
But if they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session.
In July, McCarthy floated an impeachment inquiry into Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and his latest comments are the clearest signal yet that an inquiry could come soon in the House.
Republicans in Congress have ramped up investigations of Biden and his son Hunter Biden, particularly the younger Biden’s business dealings.
Updated
North Dakota governor and GOP presidential candidate Doug Burgum plans to appear on the debate stage tonight despite injuring his leg during a basketball game, CBS’ Robert Costa reports.
Burgum, 67, was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room on Tuesday night and it was unclear if he would be able to stand for the two-hour debate.
Burgum campaign source tells me the governor is planning to go to the “walk thru” this afternoon at the debate site despite his injury and ER visit… and has made clear to RNC he plans to be on stage tonight
— Robert Costa (@costareports) August 23, 2023
A Super Pac backing Florida governor Ron DeSantis was briefly suspended from X, formerly known as Twitter, hours before the first Republican presidential primary debate, according to reports.
Visitors to the “Never Back Down” Twitter account on Wednesday morning were greeted with a message stating “Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules”. The account was later restored.
Account for @RonDeSantis @NvrBackDown24 super PAC suspended from X on #GOPDebate day. The reasons why are unknown at this writing.
— Florida Politics (@Fla_Pol) August 23, 2023
Reporting by @AGGancarskihttps://t.co/nw3ia2ypvq#FlaPol pic.twitter.com/ZVDpGvWhGT
My colleague David Smith is in Milwaukee today to cover the preparations for tonight’s Republican primary debate.
At Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee for first Republican presidential primary debate: pic.twitter.com/BO8meGpKZU
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) August 23, 2023
Former Coffee county elections supervisor Misty Hampton reaches $10,000 bail agreement
Misty Hampton, the former elections supervisor for Coffee county, has reached a $10,000 bond agreement with prosecutors in Fulton count, according to court documents.
Hampton’s bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.
Hampton was present when a Donald Trump-aligned group sought to illegally access voting machines in search of fraud and directed much of the group’s search.
Here’s a copy of the bond agreement, shared by Lawfare’s Anna Bower:
Misty Hampton, former Coffee County elections supervisor who was involved in unauthorized copying of voting systems, has bond set at $10,000. pic.twitter.com/XwLFfwykks
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) August 23, 2023
Updated
Larry Elder, the rightwing radio host who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has threatened to file a complaint against the Republican National Committee (RNC) if it does not reverse its decision to exclude him from participating in tonight’s debate.
The RNC announced on Tuesday that eight candidates had qualified for the Milwaukee debate, but that three candidates had fallen short: Miami mayor Francis S Suarez, businessman Perry Johnson, and Elder. All three had claimed to have met the donor and polling threshold.
In order to qualify for the first debate stage, the RNC required candidates to draw at least 40,000 individual donors and register at least 1% support in three national polls or in two national and two early state polls. Candidates were also required to sign a pledge to back the eventual winner of the GOP primary.
Posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, Elder said he intends to file an FEC complaint for violation of debate rules and illegal campaign contributions if the RNC does not reverse their decision by 2pm Central time.
If the RNC does not reverse their decision by 2pm CT and acknowledge that I met all criteria for entry into the presidential debate, I intend to file an FEC complaint for violation of debate rules and illegal campaign contributions.
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) August 23, 2023
FEC rules governing debates are clear that… pic.twitter.com/aKbFPOjy1k
Updated
Prosecutors described the interaction with the witness who retracted “false prior testimony” in the criminal case against Donald Trump over the hoarding of classified documents in a filing that seeks a hearing in Florida about potential conflicts of interest involving the defense lawyer, Stanley Woodward, who also represents Trump valet Walt Nauta.
The filing states:
The target letter to Trump Employee 4 crystallized a conflict of interest arising from Mr Woodward’s concurrent representation of Trump Employee 4 and Nauta.
They added:
Advising Trump Employee 4 to correct his sworn testimony would result in testimony incriminating Mr Woodward’s other client, Nauta; but permitting Trump Employee 4’s false testimony to stand uncorrected would leave Trump Employee 4 exposed to criminal charges for perjury.
Special Counsel prosecutors explain this is the conflict of interested for lawyer Stanley Woodward, adding that Taveras flipped after switching lawyers and taking the Federal Public Defender. https://t.co/3PpBjChUMJ
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) August 22, 2023
The Republican party faces an electability test on Wednesday when candidates including election deniers, climate deniers and anti-abortion extremists take the debate stage in a city that rebukes them and a state they cannot afford to lose.
The first presidential primary debate will be held in Milwaukee, a racially diverse Democratic stronghold in Wisconsin, a battleground that could decide who wins the White House in 2024.
Even without Donald Trump, who is skipping the primetime televised event, the juxtaposition between Republicans who have embraced his far-right agenda and their sceptical host city offers a preview of the party’s struggle to broaden its appeal.
“This is a debate of bad ideas,” said Mandela Barnes, born and raised in Milwaukee and a former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin.
It’s going to be a bunch of Maga extremists showing up in this city because Wisconsin is a critical state every election year. But regardless of how they perform, the reality is they are choosing a losing strategy of extremism and showing how out of touch they are with the people of this country and specifically people here in the city of Milwaukee.
Read the full report by the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, here.
Mar-a-Lago witness ‘retracted false testimony’ to implicate Trump
A witness in the criminal case against Donald Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents retracted “prior false testimony” after switching lawyers last month and implicated the former president in new information, according to the justice department.
The witness, a Trump employee identified elsewhere as Mar-a-Lago director of information technology, Yuscil Taveras, initially testified to a grand jury in Washington DC that he was unaware of any effort to erase surveillance video at the Florida property.
Prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday that the witness after getting the new attorney “immediately … retracted his prior false testimony” and provided the justice department with information that helped form the basis of the revised indictment against Trump, his valet Walt Nauta, and a third defendant, Carlos De Oliveira.
Rudy Giuliani is expected to have traveled to Georgia with the former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Georgia election subversion case.
Kerik has been assisting Giuliani to find a lawyer to represent him, CNN reported.
Kerik, who is not a lawyer, has agreed to assist Giuliani at no cost through the first phase of the Georgia prosecution — including bond negotiations with the Fulton County district attorney’s office and then surrendering to local authorities, the sources said.
Giuliani faces proliferating legal difficulties and expenses arising from work including searching for dirt on Donald Trump’s political enemies, which stoked Trump’s first impeachment, and challenging election results in states lost to Joe Biden.
The former New York mayor was forced to put his Manhattan flat on the market earlier this month to cover his soaring legal bills.
Rudy Giuliani lands in Atlanta to surrender to authorities
A plane carrying Rudy Giuliani has landed at Atlanta’s Dekalb-Peachtree airport.
The former New York mayor and lawyer for Donald Trump is expected to surrender to face charges in the sprawling Georgia elections racketeering case later today.
Updated
Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Donald Trump heavily involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, has struck a $100,000 bail agreement with prosecutors in Fulton count, according to court documents.
Powell’s bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.
From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:
UPDATE: Here is Sidney POWELL's $100,000 bond order: pic.twitter.com/sfGJxuRQ8e
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 23, 2023
Updated
Doug Burgum's GOP debate attendance in doubt after leg injury
North Dakota governor and Republican presidential hopeful Doug Burgum injured himself playing basketball on Tuesday, leaving in doubt his participation in the first Republican presidential debate tonight.
Burgum, 67, was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room after injuring his leg while playing a game of pick-up basketball with his staff, CNN reported, citing a source. He was discharged from the hospital the same day.
It is “unclear if he will be able to stand” at the two-hour debate, which is set to begin at 9pm Eastern time on Wednesday, NBC reported.
Burgum is one of eight candidates to meet the Republican national committee’s qualifications for the first debate. The other seven are: Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, the former vice-president Mike Pence, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina senator Tim Scott.
Updated
Rudy Giuliani has retained counsel John Esposito and local counsel Brian Tevis to represent him against charges in Georgia, NBC reported.
New York-based Esposito works at the law firm Aidala, Bertuna and Kamins and is a former Manhattan assistant district attorney.
Trump to surrender during Thursday primetime hours to his benefit
Donald Trump – seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus – in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place on Thursday evening during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks.
Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the primetime scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday.
Trump returned to his instinct to maximize television ratings to his benefit for his surrender to authorities in Atlanta, the people said, and could extend the coverage of the proceedings by speaking afterwards in front of cameras and reporters.
The strategy to turn surrenders in each of his four criminal cases into spectacles has been an effort to discredit the indictments, as well as to capitalize on the information void left by prosecutors after such events to foist his own spin on the charges.
While he would prefer not to be charged, once indicted, Trump has moved to present himself as defiant and lament to his supporters that he supposedly is the victim of partisan investigations, for which he needs their political and financial support.
Updated
Rudy Giuliani has dined out for years on his aggressive use of Rico, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which he wielded with dramatic effect against New York mobsters in the 1980s.
For his pains, he was granted an award by the Italian government. Later, as New York City mayor, he turned his use of the anti-racketeering law into a vote-getter, presenting himself as the hero of Rico.
As an in-joke, he handed the keys of the city to the cast of the Sopranos. Then he went on Saturday Night Live and bragged about “sticking it to organised crime”.
He may not be laughing so loudly now.
Giuliani, Donald Trump and 17 other co-defendants have been slapped with organised crime charges in Georgia under the state’s Rico law, for allegedly having been part of a vast conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The hero of Rico had been hoist with his own petard.
The irony that Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county who is leading the prosecution, chose to hit the hero of Rico with a Rico rap has not been lost on Giuliani watchers. Appointed as US attorney for the southern district of New York in 1983, he did not so much invent the anti-racketeering law, which was enacted in 1970, as become an early adopter in its use against organised crime.
Rudy Giuliani is expected to travel to Georgia with the former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.
CNN reported on Wednesday morning that Kerik, identified as co-conspirator No5 in the case, has been assisting Giuliani to find a lawyer to represent him.
Tim Parlatore, a lawyer representing Kerik, told CNN that he was “not sure” if Giuliani had yet found himself a Georgia-based lawyer, while noting that it would be normal to be required to have one, as part of bond arrangements when turning oneself in to face charges.
In early 2020, Trump pardoned Kerik for crimes including tax fraud and lying to investigators, for which Kerik had been sentenced to four years in jail.
Later that year, Kerik worked with Giuliani on attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, a push which culminated in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol as supporters of Trump violently tried but failed to ensure that Congress would not certify Biden’s win.
Rudy Giuliani was seen leaving his New York apartment building early on Wednesday. “I am going to Fulton country to comply with the law,” he said. “If I plead today, I plead not guilty.”
He added that he would be photographed for a mugshot.
Isn’t that nice? A mugshot for the man who probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail. They’re going to degrade themselves by doing a mugshot of me.
Unlike the other defendants charged in the Georgia election subversion case, Giuliani plans to negotiate bond and turn himself all in the same day, CNN reported, citing sources.
The former New York mayor and Trump lawyer wants to complete the process before Trump arrives on Thursday, the report said.
Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening.
In remarks ahead of his travel to Georgia to surrender at the Fulton county jail, Rudy Giuliani said he was feeling “very good” because he was “defending the rights of all Americans”.
Giuliani told reporters in New York:
I’m the same Rudy Giuliani that took down the mafia, that made New York City the safest city in America, that reduced crime more than any mayor in the history of any city anywhere.
I’m fighting for justice – I have been from the first moment I represented Donald Trump, who has now been proven innocent several times.
Rudy Giuliani 'feeling very good' as he heads to Georgia to surrender to authorities
Rudy Giuliani, who served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said he was traveling to Georgia to surrender to face charges in the sprawling elections racketeering case.
Giulani is expected to travel to Georgia with former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. CNN reported on Wednesday morning that Kerik, identified as co-conspirator No5 in the case, has been assisting Giuliani to find a lawyer to represent him.
Speaking in New York, Giuliani said:
I’m going to Georgia and I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I’m defending the rights of all Americans.
“I’m going to Georgia and I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I’m defending the rights of all Americans.”
— The Recount (@therecount) August 23, 2023
— Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, before he heads to Fulton County to surrender to authorities in the Georgia election interference indictment pic.twitter.com/AozTl4lHxF
Updated
Who are the 18 other defendants charged in the Trump Georgia election case?
The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, delivered a sweeping indictment earlier this month that charges Donald Trump, along with more than a dozen co-defendants, with 41 counts including racketeering, conspiracy, solicitation and filing false statements.
These are the other defendants charged in the indictment, which alleges a coordinated group effort to pressure Georgia officials into changing the outcome of the 2020 election.
One individual stands out among the 18 Donald Trump acolytes who were indicted in Georgia this week over their participation in the former president’s alleged racketeering enterprise to overturn the 2020 election.
He is distinct not for his chutzpah and braggadocio – those qualities are trademarked by Trump. Instead he stands out for the opposite characteristics: his demure, scholarly demeanor that has left those who have known him utterly baffled by his eruption from a left-leaning attorney working in relative obscurity into a key figure in the glaring lights of a historic criminal prosecution.
Kenneth Chesebro is not your regular Trump guy. Yet Chesebro features heavily in Jack Smith’s federal indictment of Trump and is centrally cast Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis’ sprawling indictment in Georgia.
My colleague Ed Pilkington asks how did this mild lawyer with a liberal past become the architect of Trump’s election subversion scandal?
Trump attorneys Ray Smith and Kenneth Chesebro surrender in Georgia case
Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney who allegedly helped devise the fake elector scheme to subvert the 2020 presidential election, and Ray Smith, a Georgia lawyer who worked for Trump following the election, surrendered to Fulton county authorities today, according to jail records.
Chesebro has been revealed to be one of the main architects of the fake electors scheme, which he described as a “bold, controversial plan”. The New York Times obtained a copy of a memo from Chesebro to a Wisconsin attorney laying out a three-pronged plan to overturn election results in six states, including Georgia, and keep Donald Trump in power.
Smith is accused of advising the alternate GOP electors who met at the state capital and cast votes for Trump and signed documents that falsely claimed Trump had won the election. Following the November 2020 election, Smith sent a letter to Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and submitted several affidavits.
Six of the 18 co-defendants charged alongside Trump in the Georgia election subversion case have now surrendered.
Updated
'Fake electors' David Shafer and Cathy Latham surrender to Georgia authorities
Cathy Latham, the former chair of the Coffee county Republican party who is accused of being a fake elector, and former GOP chairman David Shafer, who is also accused of being a fake elector, surrendered and were booked at Fulton county jail early this morning.
Latham and Shafer, both of whom signed documents purporting to be valid 2020 presidential electors in Georgia, were released on bond, according to jail records. Shafter proceeded to share his mug shot on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Good morning! #NewProfilePicture pic.twitter.com/EADF0zYSSH
— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) August 23, 2023
In December 2020, Trump attorney John Eastman reportedly helped orchestrate the plan for Georgia Republican electors to meet and sign a fraudulent certificate that said Trump won the election in what is now known as the fake electors scheme.
Eastman also drafted a six-point memo that directed the former vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to certify electoral votes on 6 January 2021.
Eastman, alongside Rudy Giuliani, spoke at a rally near the US Capitol on the day of the insurrection where he spread baseless claims of election fraud. Kenneth Chesebro, another Trump attorney who worked closely with Eastman, Trump and Giuliani to halt the electoral certification and is a named defendant, was also at the Capitol that day.
After Trump’s 2020 loss, bail bondsman Scott Hall allegedly sought illegal access to voting machines in Coffee county, Georgia, to search for evidence they were rigged.
According to the indictment, he allegedly traveled to the Coffee county elections office to copy voter data from Dominion Voting Systems machines, which was a breach of privacy and unlawful.
Hall was charged alongside the Coffee county officials Misty Hampton and Cathy Latham, as well as Trump-aligned attorney Sidney Powell, for “willfully and unlawfully tampering with electronic ballot markers and tabulating machines”, which was an act of conspiracy to commit election fraud.
Hall also placed several phone calls to the individuals who were involved with intimidating Georgia poll workers to allegedly coerce false testimony about election security, according to the indictment.
First mug shots released in Trump Georgia election case
Fulton county officials released the first two booking photos of defendants in the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and allies.
John Eastman, who is alleged to have orchestrated the so-called fake elector plot that aimed to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election, surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Tuesday.
Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who is accused of a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee county, was also booked in on Tuesday.
Fulton County Sheriff's Office has released mug shots for John Eastman and Scott Hall. pic.twitter.com/EWrOWpJTf4
— The Recount (@therecount) August 23, 2023
The first two defendants in the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and 18 other defendants were booked in at the Fulton county jail on Tuesday.
Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area bail bondsman, was booked at the Rice Street jail on Tuesday. John Eastman, a Trump attorney and allegedly one of the main architects of Trump’s plan to halt the certification of Biden’s victory, also voluntarily turned himself in later on Tuesday morning.
John Eastman, after turning himself in over his Georgia election interference case indictment, vows to contest “every count of the indictment”:
— The Recount (@therecount) August 22, 2023
“I am confident that when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all of my co-defendants and I will be fully vindicated.” pic.twitter.com/Dlsvrn4YHj
Hall was charged with seven felony counts, including six criminal conspiracy charges and with violating the Rico Act. His bond is set at $10,000, according to a “consent bond order” posted to the Fulton county court’s website on Monday.
Eastman was charged with nine felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, solicitation, filing false documents and violating the Rico Act. Eastman’s bond is set at $100,000.
Donald Trump to turn himself in to Georgia authorities on Thursday night
Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Thursday evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the prime-time scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday.
The surrender itself is expected to be mundane. At the Rice Street jail north-west of downtown Atlanta, where defendants charged in Fulton county are typically taken, the booking process involves a mug shot, fingerprinting and having height and weight recorded.
Trump asked his lawyers and the US secret service to get him an exemption from being photographed, the people said, though it was not clear whether he will get special treatment. The Fulton county sheriff, Patrick Labat, has previously said Trump would be treated no differently.
The other 18 co-defendants in the 2020 election subversion case appear to be receiving regular treatment based on online jail records for the former Trump election lawyer John Eastman and others, who had their height, weight and personal appearance made public.
Once the booking is complete, Trump is expected to be released immediately on conditions that include stringent witness intimidation restrictions that have not been put in place for his co-defendants, court filings show, until he is due back in state court for arraignment.
Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is expected to surrender to Fulton county jail later today, will have a lawyer with a Georgia license to represent him during the bond negotiations, CNN reported, citing a source.
Giuliani is believed to be traveling to Georgia with the former New York police commissioner, Bernie Kerik, who has been working with the former mayor to help him find a Georgia lawyer to represent him in this case, according to the report.
Updated
Rudy Giuliani expected to surrender at Fulton county jail
Good morning, US politics blog readers. The New York mayor turned Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is expected to surrender at the Fulton county jail on Wednesday on charges he acted as Donald Trump’s chief co-conspirator in a plot to subvert the 2020 presidential election, according to reports.
Sources told CNN that Giuliani wants to get it all done before Trump comes to Georgia. The former president is expected to turn himself in on Thursday evening, the Guardian reported on Tuesday. Giuliani is expected to travel to the state with former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik who has been working to help the former mayor find a Georgia lawyer to represent him in this case.
Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis has set a deadline of noon on Friday for Trump and his 18 co-defendants to turn themselves in on charges that they acted together as a “criminal organisation” as part of a vast conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Several have already voluntarily turned themselves in – on Tuesday, Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area bail bondsman, and John Eastman, a Trump attorney and allegedly one of the main architects of Trump’s plan to halt the certification of Biden’s victory, were booked in at the Rice Street jail. Trump “electors” David Shafer and Cathy Latham also surrendered early Wednesday, according to court records.
Here’s what else we’re watching today:
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls will gather in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tonight to take part in the first 2024 Republican primary debate.
The eight candidates scheduled to appear are: Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis, the former vice-president Mike Pence, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina senator Tim Scott.
The debate begins at 9pm Eastern time. We will be following it live on this blog.
