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Donald Trump shakes up legal team ahead of surrender
Donald Trump has shaken up his legal team just hours ahead of his expected surrender to authorities in Fulton county on charges over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Drew Findling is expected to depart the team and be replaced by Steven Sadow, a veteran criminal defense lawyer, the New York Times reported.
Findling has served as lead attorney for Trump as it relates to the over two-year probe by the Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, into efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
Another attorney, Jennifer Little, is expected to remain and work with Sadow, ABC reported.
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Former White House chief of staff Meadows surrenders in Georgia
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s chief of staff at the White House, has just turned himself in at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta, Georgia.
He faces racketeering charges alongside Trump and 17 other co-defendants.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires taken at the Fulton county jail in Atlanta, Georgia, where Donald Trump is expected to surrender this evening on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
Trevian Kutti, a former publicist who was charged in the Georgia case in connection with the intimidation of an Atlanta election worker, has agreed to a $75,000 bond.
A Chicago-based publicist, Kutti allegedly threatened a Georgia election worker, Ruby Freeman, with jail if she did not say she participated in election fraud.
She faces three counts in the indictment: violation of Georgia’s Rico Act, criminal conspiracy and influencing witnesses.
Former DoJ official Jeff Clark reaches $100,000 bond agreement
Jeff Clark, a former justice department attorney, has struck a $100,00 bond agreement with Fulton county prosecutors.
Clark’s bail conditions include not communicating with witnesses and co-defendants, reporting to pretrial services by phone every month, surrendering by noon on Friday and not obstructing justice by intimidating witnesses.
From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:
Hugo Lowell
Ahead of the surrender, Donald Trump shook up his legal team and retained the top Georgia attorney Steven Sadow, who filed a notice of appearance with the Fulton county superior court as lead counsel, replacing Drew Findling. Trump’s other lawyer in the case, Jennifer Little, is staying on.
The reason for the abrupt recalibration was unclear, and Trump’s aides suggested it was unrelated to performance. Still, Trump has a record of firing lawyers who represented him during criminal investigations but were unable to stave off charges.
Findling was also unable to exempt Trump from having his mugshot taken, according to people familiar with the matter – something that personally irritated Trump, even though the Fulton county sheriff’s office had always indicated they were uninterested in making such an accommodatioin.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The other 18 co-defendants in the 2020 election subversion case appear to be receiving regular treatment based on online jail records for the former Trump election lawyer John Eastman and others, who had their height, weight and personal appearance made public.
Once the booking is complete, Trump was expected to be released immediately on conditions that include stringent witness intimidation restrictions that have not been put in place for his co-defendants, court filings show, until he is due back in state court for arraignment.
The Trump legal team could file a motion to remove the case to federal court before then, under a federal statute that allows for such venue changes if the case involves federal officials’ actions taken “under color” of their office – as in, if it was part of official duties.
Trump could face major difficulties with that argument, however, since he would have to show that taking steps to change the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia amounted to him acting in his official capacity as president, legal experts have said.
Hugo Lowell
Donald Trump was expected to leave this afternoon from his Bedminster club in New Jersey, where he spends his summers, and fly by private plane to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
He was then expected to travel into Atlanta by US Secret Service motorcade, a person familiar with the matter said.
The schedule will involve Trump arriving at the infamously decrepit Rice Street jail, located north-west of downtown Atlanta, in the early evening and the motorcade is expected to snake around into the jail premises down a road lined with dozens of TV cameras.
The strategy to turn the surrender into a made-for-television circus has been an effort to discredit the indictments, the person said, as well as to capitalize on the information void left by prosecutors after the events to foist his own spin on the charges.
To that end, once Trump is done with the booking process and returns directly to the airport, Trump is weighing delivering impromptu remarks to reporters there before boarding his plane as he liked to do when he was president talking to a pool of reporters, the person said.
Trump prosecutor Fani Willis calls for Georgia election subversion trial to begin 23 October
Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis has proposed for the Georgia election subversion trial against Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants to start on 23 October 2023, according to a court filing.
The scheduling request by Willis came a day after one of Trump’s co-defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, filed a demand for a speedy trial in the county superior court.
Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows reaches $100,000 bond agreement in Georgia case
Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, has agreed to a $100,000 bond deal with the Fulton county district attorney’s office, according to court documents.
Meadows was charged with two felony counts, including violating the Georgia Rico Act and solicitation of violation of oath from a public officer.
Trump co-defendant Mark Meadows to argue for moving his Georgia case to federal court
Here’s more on Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis’ subpoenas for Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and investigator Francis Watson.
A federal judge last week ordered an “evidentiary hearing” on a motion by Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, to remove the case to federal court. The hearing is expected to take place at 10am ET on Monday.
Meadows, who is a co-defendant alongside Trump in the Georgia election subversion case, has sought to move his charges to federal court and push his Friday deadline to turn himself into Fulton county authorities, aruing the charges concern his actions as an officer of the federal government.
On Wednesday, Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis urged a judge to deny Meadows’ “meritless” request to delay his arrest in the Georgia case. Willis rejected Meadows’ request for an extension on the deadline, according to Meadows’ emergency motion.
I am not granting any extensions. I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction. The two weeks was a tremendous courtesy.
Meadows was charged with two felony counts, including violating the Georgia Rico Act and solicitation of violation of oath from a public officer, according to Willis’s indictment. Meadows was on the infamous phone call when Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.
He also received hundreds of text messages on 6 January 2021 alerting him and the White House of escalating violence at the US Capitol and asking Trump to intervene.
Donald Trump is expected to leave his club in New Jersey later this afternoon with a coterie of aides and turn himself to Fulton county authorities this evening, the Washington Post reported, citing sources.
Trump is not expected to deliver a speech, as he has done in the past after some of his previous indictments, the report says.
Hugo Lowell
Former Trump DoJ official Jeff Clark’s lawyer has arrived at the Fulton county district attorney’s office, apparently to negotiate bond conditions.
A federal judge denied Clark’s motion to stay his surrender before noon tomorrow while he tries to have his case removed to federal court.
Gloria Oladipo
While former president Donald Trump was preparing to surrender at an Atlanta jail on Thursday, he was apparently also reconsidering his legal defense team.
Just hours before Trump is supposed to turn himself in, reports broke that he had shaken up his team. Criminal defense lawyer Steve Sadow is reportedly going to replace Trump’s existing lawyer, Drew Findling, according to the New York Times.
Notably, Findling, alongside Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg, was key in negotiating Trump’s $200,000 bond. Little will reportedly stay on the team.
The Guardian has contacted Sadow for further comment.
Law enforcement officers are on high alert at the Fulton county jail, where Donald Trump is expected to turn himself to be processed later today.
Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger subpoenaed to testify in federal court
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, has been subpoenaed to testify at a Monday hearing examining efforts by the former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to move the Fulton county criminal case to federal court, according to court filings.
Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis also subpoenaed Frances Watson, the chief investigator for Raffensperger during the 2020 election.
From Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman:
House Republicans open investigation into Fulton county DA Fani Willis
The Republican-led House judiciary committee launched a congressional investigation into the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, over whether her prosecution of Donald Trump is “politically motivated”.
In a letter to Willis announcing the investigation, House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan demanded Willis turn over information and communications with the justice department and federal officials by 7 September. The letter states:
Ms. Willis’s indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding her actions raise serious concerns about whether such actions are politically motivated.
