Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani surrendered at Fulton County Jail on Aug. 23 over charges brought in Georgia over his alleged efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 election.
Mr. Giuliani had his bond set at $150,000 on Wednesday. He is among 19 co-defendants, including former President Donald Trump, in the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
“It’s an attack on the American people,” he told reporters after being booked, calling the case an “assault on our Constitution.”
“If it can happen to me, it can happen to you,” he said.
Other attorneys and alternate electors who were named as codefendants in the Fulton County, Georgia, indictment against President Trump and 18 other defendants have already surrendered, according to county jail records.
Attorneys John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Ray Smith III, and alternate electors Cathleen Latham and David Shafer, and Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall have also been booked by the local Fulton County jail and released on bond, and President Trump had announced he would go on Thursday.
He confirmed it again on Wednesday morning on Truth Social, “Nobody has ever fought for election integrity like President Donald J. Trump. For doing so, I will proudly be arrested tomorrow afternoon in Georgia. God bless the United States of America!!!”
Bond agreements have also been set with a number of other defendants. In total, President Trump had his set the highest at $200,000, Mr. Giuliani at $150,000, Mr. Eastman at $100,000, Ms. Powell at $100,000, Mr. Chesebro at $100,000, Jenna Ellis at $100,000, Mr. Shafer at $75,000, Ms. Latham at $75,000, Stephen Lee at $75,000, Mr. Smith at $50,000, Robert Cheeley at $50,000, Michael Roman at $50,000, Shawn Still at $10,000, Misty Hampton at $10,000, and Mr. Hall at $10,000.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Giuliani spoke to the press outside his New York City apartment.
“Well 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, as I did so many times as a United States Attorney,” he said.
“People like to say I’m different—I’m the same Rudy Giuliani that took down the mafia that made New York City the safest city in America, reduced crime more than any mayor in any city anywhere, and I’m fighting for justice. I have been since the first moment I represented [former President] Donald Trump—innocent man who has now been proven innocent several times, I don’t know how many times he has to be proven innocent,” he said, while also criticizing the prosecution.
“And they have to be proven to be liars, actually enemies of our republic who are destroying rights, sacred rights: they’re destroying my right to counsel, my right to be a lawyer, they’re destroying his right to counsel. It’s not accidental they’ve indicted all us lawyers—never heard of that before in America,” he said.
Mr. Giuliani pointed to the fact that other co-defendants who he had never met, regular citizens, are now facing high legal fees in what he called a political indictment. “[They] don’t deserve this,” he said.
“They’re going to bankrupt them, they won’t convict them,” he said, adding that he had been investigated himself. “They took everything I had … the U.S. attorney wrote a letter ‘there’s no probable cause that this man committed a crime’ two years later. That’s two years after costing me millions and millions of dollars and my law practice. I didn’t get that back. So on every occasion, I’m telling the truth, and they’re lying.”
Mugshots
Jail officials have insisted that all the codefendants, including the former president of the United States, will be treated like any other criminal.
“If you’re indicted, then we’re going to treat you as though you’re indicted here locally, and so we’ll consider you to do fingerprints, mugshots, etc.,” said Sheriff Patrick Labatt to CNN.
Charles Rambo, a retired lieutenant of the sheriff’s office, said to the media outlet that once inside “they would be pat down, led to the booking office in the rear. From there, they probably have to have ties and shoe strings and all those types of things taken. Then, from there the persons would be fingerprinted, given a booking photo.”
President Trump’s legal spokespersons have dismissed the remarks as posturing and described it as a transparent attempt to humiliate a presidential candidate they don’t like.
“Them saying something like we need a mugshot. What’s the purpose of a mug shot? The mug shot is so that you know what somebody looks like in case they’re a flight risk. The man is supervised by Secret Service. … Where is he going and who isn’t recognizing him?” Alina Habba, legal spokesperson and counsel of Save America PAC, told Newsmax. “It’s a show.”
Given that President Trump requires Secret Service protection, it is highly unlikely his booking process will be the same as the typical procedure.
Mr. Giuliani did not respond to a reporter’s question about whether he had his mugshot taken, but the photo has been obtained by The Epoch Times. He commented on the procedure earlier Wednesday.
“A mugshot for the man who probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail,” Mr. Giuliani said. “They’re going to degrade themselves by taking a mugshot of me like people won’t recognize me.”
Mr. Shafer, former chair of the Georgia Republican Party, posted a picture of his smiling mugshot on X (formerly Twitter) and changed it to his profile picture.
“Good morning! #NewProfilePicture,” he wrote.
The day before, Mr. Shafer had filed a detailed, 54-page notice of removal of the case from state to federal court. Similar notices had been filed by Jeffrey Clark, former Department of Justice official, and Mark Meadows, former chief of staff to the president, neither of whom has surrendered. Mr. Meadows’s attorneys have filed follow-up motions to push for a resolution before noon on Aug. 25, the deadline the defendants had been given for voluntary surrender before arrest. Ms. Willis is expected to file her response by Wednesday 3 p.m.
Mr. Shafer, like Ms. Ellis, Mr. Clark, and others, have been crowdfunding their legal fees.
Mr. Eastman gave remarks to the press after his booking, where he said he had no regrets in attaching his name to President Trump’s.
“Each defendant in this indictment, no less than any other American citizen, is entitled to rely on the advice of counsel and the benefit and past legal precedent in challenging what former Vice President Pence described as ‘serious allegations of voter irregularities’ and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law in the 2020 election,” he said.
“The attempt to criminalize our rights to redress with this indictment will have, and is already having, profound impacts for our system of justice. My legal team and I will vigorously contest every count of the indictment in which I have been named—and also every count in which others are named, for my knowledge of the relevant facts, law, and the Constitutional provisions may prove helpful,” he said. “I am confident that when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all my codefendants, and I, will be fully vindicated.”
19 Defendants
The 98-page indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charges 19 defendants with violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. In total, they are accused of 161 acts of racketeering, and 41 counts total.
The defendants are President Trump; attorney Rudy Giuliani; attorney Mr. Eastman; former chief of staff Mr. Meadows, attorney Mr. Chesebro, former DOJ official Mr. Clark, attorney Ms. Ellis, attorney Mr. Smith, attorney Mr. Cheeley, attorney Sidney Powell, alternate elector Ms. Latham, alternate elector Mr. Shafer, Illinois pastor Stephen Lee, vice president for the Black Conservative Federation Harrison Floyd, former publicist for Kanye West Trevian Kutti, bail bondsman Mr. Hall, and former elections official Misty Hampton.
From The Epoch Times
