Donald Trump hands himself in for arrest in Georgia

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Former US president Donald Trump has flown to Atlanta to be arrested over an alleged conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.

Transcript

00:00 Donald Trump's mugshot has just been released.

00:05 This is an historic moment in what has really been a series of historic moments involving

00:11 the former president, but really quite extraordinary to see this photograph taken inside the Fulton

00:18 County Jail as part of the process of formally surrendering here.

00:25 Donald Trump didn't spend long inside those walls.

00:28 It was all done in around 20 minutes or so, but we know that he had to present himself,

00:36 that he was formally booked.

00:38 Authorities there have released some information as part of that process.

00:43 They have listed the charges against him, which all relate to alleged attempts to overturn

00:48 Georgia's results in the 2020 election.

00:52 They have recorded the former president as being 6 foot 3, as being 215 pounds.

00:58 That works out to about 97 kilos.

01:00 They've recorded his hair as blonde or strawberry.

01:05 Really quite a different set of circumstances than we've seen compared to the previous three

01:12 indictments that Donald Trump has faced.

01:16 Two of those have been brought by federal prosecutors.

01:18 One has been brought in the state of New York.

01:21 None of those cases involved having the former president have a mugshot taken or having these

01:27 sorts of details released.

01:30 But as I said, he didn't spend long here.

01:32 His motorcade took him back to an airport in Atlanta where he boarded his private jet

01:38 bound for his property in New Jersey.

01:40 All of the defendants in this case, and there are 19 of them including Donald Trump, had

01:45 until midday tomorrow, local time, to turn themselves in at this same jail.

01:50 We have already seen a number of his co-defendants doing so.

01:55 His former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was here yesterday.

01:58 His White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, surrendered today.

02:03 So that process is still ongoing.

02:06 Next there will be a court appearance because here in Fulton County it doesn't work as it

02:11 has done in those other cases.

02:13 This process is split in two.

02:15 And so that first court appearance isn't scheduled until early next month.

02:20 And we don't know at this point in time whether Donald Trump will have to attend that hearing

02:24 in person or if it could perhaps be done virtually.

02:28 Aside from that, the district attorney in Fulton County, Farnie Willis, the woman prosecuting

02:34 this case, is looking now to get this to trial.

02:38 She has said that she wants all of the defendants tried at the same time.

02:43 One of them had requested a speedy trial and so she suggested in a court filing today that

02:49 the trial could start in October of this year.

02:52 That is much sooner than many had been anticipating, had been flagged earlier.

02:57 So we wait to see whether that indeed would happen.

03:01 A lot of legal experts we've spoken to ever since this indictment was announced were really

03:07 sceptical that this kind of case involving so many people and being brought under Georgia's

03:13 racketeering laws, that it could be brought that quickly.

03:17 So we'll see what happens there.

03:19 In the meantime though, Donald Trump, as you heard there in those comments that he made

03:24 at the airport, really trying to use this case, as he has done with the three previous

03:30 cases, to his political advantage.

03:32 Trying to rally support, urging his backers for donations as he continues his campaign

03:40 for the Republican presidential nomination, for which he is still considered the overwhelming

03:46 frontrunner.

03:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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