Rudy Giuliani released on $150K bond after surrendering at Atlanta jail in Georgia election case
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani turned himself in at Atlanta’s main jail Wednesday afternoon in connection to attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Giuliani, 79, pulled up to the Fulton County Jail in a black SUV shortly after 3 p.m. and shook hands with a sheriff’s officer before walking inside to be booked on 13 counts, including violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and have his mugshot taken.
Giuliani spent approximately half-an-hour inside the jail before being released on $150,000 bond. His unsmiling mugshot was released by the sheriff’s office shortly before 5 p.m.
“I am very, very honored to be involved in this case because this case is a fight for our way of life,” he told reporters outside the jail. “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 whom I don’t even know – this is an attack on the American people.”
Trump himself chimed in on Truth Social, writing: “The greatest Mayor in the history of New York City was just ARRESTED in Atlanta, Georgia, because he fought for Election Integrity. THE ELECTION WAS RIGGED & STOLLEN. HOW SAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. MAGA!”
The 45th president, 77, is scheduled to turn himself in Thursday afternoon at the same jail, where he has agreed to post a $200,000 bond.
The Georgia indictment is the fourth brought against the 45th president since leaving office.
At least nine of Trump’s 18 co-defendants have surrendered to Fulton County authorities so far, according to local records.
On Tuesday, GOP poll watcher Scott Hall became the first co-defendant to turn himself in, followed soon after by Trump attorney John Eastman, the alleged mastermind behind the legal strategy to subvert the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham, former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, former Georgia state Sen. David Shafer, Georgia lawyer Ray Smith, and former Trump campaign attorneys Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis all surrendered themselves to local authorities.
Eastman, who faces seven counts, had his bond set at $100,000.
Bond was also set at $100,000 for Powell, Chesebro, and Ellis; $75,000 for Latham; $75,000 for former police chaplain Stephen Lee; $75,000 for Shafer; $50,000 for lawyer Bob Cheeley; $50,000 for former Trump 2020 campaign official Michael Roman; $50,000 for Smith; and $10,000 for both Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still and former Coffee County elections director Misty Hampton.
Two key defendants in the case, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, petitioned federal courts this week to stay their surrender until their motions to remove the case to federal court can be heard.
US District Judge Steve Jones denied both men’s requests Wednesday, writing that until a federal court formally takes jurisdiction over a state case, the state court proceedings can continue.
Willis’ indictment features 41 counts against the 19 co-defendants and stems from a probe she initiated over two years ago.
The DA gave all the defendants until noon Friday to surrender and has requested a March 4 trial start date in the case.
Trump has insisted that his actions were not illegal and that the sweeping probe is politically motivated.
