This Thursday, August 24, will be an exciting day indeed as former president and four-time indictee Donald Trump will be arrested.
Trump had been given until noon on Friday to appear at Fulton County Jail in Georgia along with 18 other individuals who have also been accused of numerous charges, including false statements and fraudulent activity. (Trump denies all of the charges against him.)
So far, Trump has remained free on the condition that he doesn’t attempt to intimidate witnesses in the case. He also has bail set at $200,000. According to a court filing, his bond agreement is as follows: “The defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a co-defendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice.
“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.”
The county sheriff has said that Trump will be treated like any other arrested citizen, meaning that the 77-year-old will have his fingerprints taken and will have (a non-AI generated) mugshot taken.
When will Trump be arrested?
Trump announced that he’ll be surrendering himself for court processing on Thursday—so a little early—and he did so in classic Trump fashion: via a bizarre rant on Truth Social.
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis. She campaigned, and is continuing to campaign, and raise money on, this WITCH HUNT,” he wrote. “This is in strict coordination with crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ [Department of Justice].”
I can believe it! Also, that sure seems like something meant to “obstruct the administration of justice” but I guess we’ll have to see if a judge agrees.
In a separate, even more unhinged post, Trump ranted about his $200,000 bail. He joked about fleeing to Russia and seemed to suggest he was too famous to be a flight risk.
“I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a ‘flight’ risk – I’d fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir [Putin], never to be seen or heard from again,” he wrote. “Would I be able to take my very ‘understated’ airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I’d be much better off flying commercial – I’m sure nobody would recognize me!”
Willis has asked that arraignments, which see those accused are formally charged and enter a plea, take place next month on September 5. She has also suggested March next year for the trial to take place. Unlike in Trump’s other currently pending criminal cases, both events could be televised.
Despite all this, Trump is still the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. That’s true even though he’s refusing to participate in the standard campaign debates. He explained his reasoning on Truth Social, “The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had. I will therefore not be doing the debates.”
(featured image: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Published: Aug 22, 2023 02:52 pm