THE DAILY BEAST
The first defendants in Donald Trump’s sprawling criminal case in Georgia turned themselves in on Tuesday to be booked, fingerprinted, and photographed by local authorities.
Scott Hall, a bail bondsman and Fulton County Republican poll watcher, was the first of the 19 co-defendants to surrender to the Fulton County Jail on Tuesday morning, the jail’s online records showed.
Hall was charged in relation to his alleged involvement in a breach of voting systems in Coffee County. He had not yet been released about an hour after his surrender, according to jail records. Hall faces a total of seven counts, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to defraud the state, and the racketeering count at the heart of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case.
John Eastman, the disgraced attorney and author of the so-called “coup memo” that outlined a plan to overturn election results in Georgia, surrendered at the same jail shortly after Hall on Tuesday morning.
Hall and Eastman had their bonds set at $10,000 and $100,000, respectively, on Monday.
In a statement, Eastman said he was surrendering “to an indictment that should never have been brought.”
“I am confident that, when the law is faithfully applied in this proceeding, all of my co-defendants and I will be fully vindicated,” he said.
After he was processed and booked at the jail facility, Eastman stepped outside and quadrupled down on his election denialism, saying he “absolutely” still believed Trump was cheated out of his rightful win in 2020.
“No question about it,” he said.
Eastman also said he was paying his own legal fees, but declined to comment about any immunity deals he may or may not have struck with prosecutors, according to NBC News.
Trump himself is expected to turn himself in on Thursday, a day before the noon Friday deadline set by Willis. His lawyers agreed to a $200,000 bond on Monday that bars Trump from intimidating witnesses in the case or communicating with his co-defendants about the case, either directly or indirectly.
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat previously vowed to treat Trump like any other defendant when he surrenders at the county’s main jail on Rice Street. That includes being fingerprinted, checked for any outstanding warrants, and having a mugshot taken.
“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” Labat said earlier this month.
Several other co-defendants negotiated bonds on Monday and Tuesday including Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro ($100,000), Georgia attorney Ray Smith ($50,000), Georgia state Senator Shawn Still ($10,000), former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis ($100,000), former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer ($75,000), former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham ($75,000), and campaign operative and former Pennsylvania GOP ward leader Mike Roman ($50,000).
