Rudolph W. Giuliani voluntarily surrendered to the Atlanta jail on Wednesday in connection with the racketeering case involving former President Donald J. Trump and his associates. Giuliani arrived in Atlanta as one of the defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, filed a motion for a speedy trial, which, if granted, would require the trial to begin no later than November 3rd, much earlier than anticipated.
After his booking, Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, spoke to reporters, describing the case as an “attack on the American people.” He then made his way to A 2nd Chance Bail Bonds, a local business near the jail. Both Giuliani and Trump are facing numerous charges, with Giuliani having served as Trump’s personal lawyer following the 2020 election and playing a significant role in promoting baseless claims of election fraud.
Accompanying Giuliani to the jail was Bernard Kerik, the former police commissioner of New York City during Giuliani’s mayoral tenure. Kerik is not involved in the case. Giuliani traveled to Atlanta on a private plane and was joined by Ted Goodman, his spokesman, and John Esposito from the law firm Aidala, Bertuna, and Kamins, who will be leading Giuliani’s defense.
Prior to his booking, Giuliani’s lawyers met with Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney leading the investigation. Sidney Powell, another defendant in the case known for her false claims of voter fraud, had her bond set at $100,000.
Trump, who is set to turn himself in on Thursday, has a bond of $200,000, with restrictions against intimidating witnesses or co-defendants. The case against Giuliani is notable, as he is a former federal prosecutor himself, now facing a racketeering charge.
Almost half of the defendants have already been processed at the Fulton County jail, including Chesebro and John Eastman, who were instrumental in the plan to utilize fake electors to maintain Trump’s presidency. David Shafer, a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, and Scott Hall, an Atlanta bail bondsman associated with a data breach at a rural Georgia elections office, have also surrendered.
In a social media post, Trump defiantly proclaimed that he would “proudly be arrested” during his upcoming visit to the Atlanta jail. Giuliani has experienced financial difficulties due to mounting legal expenses, prompting Trump to organize a fund-raiser at his club in Bedminster, NJ, to support him.
While Trump typically aims to slow down legal proceedings, Chesebro’s filing for a speedy trial adds a new twist to the Atlanta case. Georgia law allows defendants to demand a speedy trial, and Willis’s office was prepared for such a request, which influenced their decision to take their time before issuing the indictment after a lengthy investigation.
Although a speedy trial would apply to all 19 defendants, some have sought to move their cases to federal court or severed from the others, making the timing of a trial uncertain. Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, and Robert G. Rubin, a seasoned Atlanta-area defense lawyer, have filed to remove their case to federal court. However, experts doubt the success of the removal attempt.
In the meantime, Judge Steve C. Jones has rejected Clark and Meadows’s arguments, allowing the case to proceed as he considers the removal question. Willis’s office labeled Meadows’s attempt as “meritless.” Norman Eisen, a special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Trump, expressed skepticism about the removal attempt’s success, noting the judge’s speedy schedule.
The article was authored by Shane Goldmacher and Sean Keenan and includes HTML tags.
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