Election Racketeering: Donald Trump To Be Arrested Today In Georgia

The former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is scheduled to be arrested on Thursday following charges of election racketeering leveled against him.

Naija News understands that Trump is expected to surrender at Atlanta’s notorious Fulton County Jail today.

The 77-year-old former US president was accused of conspiring with 18 co-defendants to overturn the 2020 election result in the critical southern state—an allegation he had denied vehemently.

According to Daily Trust, there is a tight security perimeter at the Fulton County Jail ahead of Trump’s arrival.

The facility is reported to be overcrowded, and it’s under investigation by the Justice Department for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable living conditions.

Trump’s booking, which may feature a mugshot for the first time, comes just hours after he spurned a primary debate featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The Fulton County Sheriff, Pat Labat, said standard procedure in Georgia is for a defendant to have a mugshot taken before they are released on bond – already set at $200,000 in Trump’s case.

The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, who brought the sweeping racketeering case, set a noon deadline (1600 GMT) on Friday for Trump and the 18 other defendants to surrender.

However, Naija News learned that a precise time has not been given for Trump’s arrival, though he had earlier announced in a post on his Truth Social platform that it would be Thursday afternoon.

“NOBODY HAS EVER FOUGHT FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY LIKE PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,” he posted, using all uppercase letters. “FOR DOING SO, I WILL PROUDLY BE ARRESTED TOMORROW AFTERNOON IN GEORGIA,” he wrote.

Trump is facing four criminal trials next year. Still, he has dismissed the four criminal indictments filed against him as “nonsense” and said the Justice Department had been “weaponized” under Democratic President Joe Biden to hamstring his White House bid.

Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump’s trial in Washington on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, a campaign of lies that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Trump’s attorneys have countered with an April 2026 start date – well after the 2024 election.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is to hold a hearing on Monday, during which she is expected to set a date for the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.