Former President Donald Trump surrendered to officials in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday evening — the fourth jurisdiction in which he's had to turn himself in this year — to face an indictment on 13 state felony counts for his alleged misdeeds in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
As part of his processing by Fulton County, Trump was required to have a mugshot taken in a departure from the three previous times the former president surrendered to face the other indictments against him. The photo was subsequently released by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.
After landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport shortly after 7:00 p.m. ET, the 45th president traveled via motorcade to the Fulton County Jail where he arrived around 7:30 p.m. and surrendered to be fingerprinted, photographed, and booked on 13 charges.
Donald J. Trump
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) August 24, 2023
Height: 6’ 3”
Weight: 215 pic.twitter.com/sYNXyJu8QO
As part of his previously reported deal with prosecutors, he was released on $200,000 bond. The whole process took only about 20 minutes, and Trump departed the jail just before 8:00 p.m. to return to ATL.
Upon arriving back at the airport, Trump spoke to reporters gathered planeside at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
"This is a very sad day for America — this should never happen," Trump said, adding "you should be able to challenge an election."
"As you know, you have many people that you've been watching over the years do the same thing," Trump continued. "Whether it's Hillary Clinton or Stacey Abrams or many others."
Addressing the case against him in Georgia, Trump said "what has taken place here is a travesty of justice" before asserting "we did nothing wrong — I did nothing wrong — and everybody knows it."
"What they're doing is election interference — they're trying to interfere with an election — there's never been anything like it in our country before," Trump said of the four indictments against him. "This is their way of campaigning."
Reasserting his innocence, Trump said "we did nothing wrong at all and we have every right, every single right, to challenge an election that we think is dishonest — and we think it's very dishonest."
TRUMP: “This is a really sad day for America. It should never happen.” pic.twitter.com/fL6IS8GhAW
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2023
Earlier on Thursday, Trump replaced his lead attorney in Georgia, Drew Findling, with Steven Sadow in a last-minute change of counsel. According to Atlanta's WSB-TV, Sadow has previously represented Rick Ross, Usher, Ray Lewis, T.I., and — most recently — Atlanta rapper Gunna in a RICO indictment that ended in an Alford plea in which the defendant pleads guilty while maintaining their innocence.
Before departing to face the charges in Georgia, Trump some thoughts about Atlanta on Truth Social:
Why is there so much MURDER in Atlanta? Why is there so much Violent Crime? People are afraid to go outside to buy a loaf of bread! One big reason is that failed District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is campaigning and fundraising off “get Trump” (much like the others!), doesn’t have the Time, Money, or Interest to go after the real criminals, even the REALLY Violent ones, that are destroying Atlanta, and its once beautiful culture and way of life. This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!