2023-08-24 23:36:00
It is one of those historical sequences that hold the country in suspense: Donald Trump arrived Thursday at an Atlanta prison to surrender to the authorities of the American state of Georgia, who charged him with attempting to manipulate the 2020 presidential.
After having escaped it during his three previous criminal charges, the billionaire risks this time not cutting the infamous ritual of the “mugshot”, the taking of the mugshot, a first for a former American president.
“Another sad day in America”, had denounced Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform shortly before his departure for this state, bordering Florida.
© Fulton County Sheriff’s Office/AFP
Photo released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office of Rudy Giuliani, former attorney for Donald Trump and ex-New York Mayor, on August 23, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia
The passage of the ex-leader, favorite of the Republican primaries for the presidential election of 2024, by the county prison of Fulton, should however be brief.
Like ten of the eleven defendants in this case who have already surrendered, barring unforeseen circumstances, Donald Trump will be free on bail – set for him at $200,000.
He was preceded in recent days in this overcrowded and notoriously unsanitary establishment, watched by the media around the world, by several of his 18 co-defendants.
All were charged on August 14 with unlawful attempts to reverse the result of the 2020 election, won in this key state by current Democratic President Joe Biden.
Viral “Mugshots”
Those who have already pushed the door of the prison, like the ex-lawyer of Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani, saw their passage immortalized and their “mugshot” circulating in a loop on television and on social networks. The rules in force also provide for the taking of fingerprints, to be measured and weighed.
© AFP
Supporters of former US President Donald Trump wave flags outside the Fulton County Jail, where he is expected, on August 24, 2023 in Atlanta, US
Ahead of his arrival, Mr. Trump officially changed the head of his team of attorneys in Georgia on Thursday. No explanation was given for the replacement of Drew Findling by Steven Sadow, a tenor of the Atlanta bar, both accustomed to defending celebrities.
But Steven Sadow has in the past criticized the law on organized crime used by the prosecutor to jointly charge the 19 defendants, and which provides for sentences of five to 20 years in prison.
The defendants have until Friday noon to present themselves to the authorities.
They are expected to return to Atlanta, this time in court, the week of September 5, presumably to announce whether or not they plead guilty.
Four charges in six months
© AFP
The prison where former US President Donald Trump is to surrender in Atlanta, United States, August 24, 2023
Legal setbacks accumulate for the former star of reality TV, criminally charged for the fourth time in less than six months.
The septuagenarian is accused in New York of suspicious payments to a former actress of X films, and by federal justice of electoral pressure during the presidential election of 2020 as well as the negligent management of confidential documents.
The former president has pleaded not guilty in all of these cases.
© AFP
Donald Trump’s legal troubles
But, that’s the whole paradox, each twist also brings him millions of dollars in campaign donations, paid by Trumpists convinced that he is the victim of a “witch hunt” engineered by the Biden administration for the out of the presidential election.
The American president, candidate for his re-election, is careful not to comment on the legal troubles of Donald Trump, anxious not to fuel his accusations of instrumentalization of justice.
Illustration of the funny campaign in which the former reality TV star is launched, this passage of Mr. Trump in Georgia comes the day following the first major presidential meeting of 2024, the Republican primary debate, organized in Wisconsin.
The former real estate magnate considered himself exempt from participating because of his spectacular lead over his rivals in the polls, preferring to speak in a river interview with Tucker Carlson, former star host of the conservative channel. Fox News, broadcast on X (ex-Twitter) at the same time.
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