Georgia indictment: 2 Trump co-defendants booked in Fulton County jail
Two of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia 2020 election meddling case turned themselves in to authorities Tuesday morning.
Scott Hall, an Atlanta-based bail bondsman, and John Eastman, a former Trump attorney, were each booked at the Fulton County Jail, records show. Hall has been assigned a $10,000 bond for seven charges. Eastman accepted a $100,000 bond.
The two men were indicted last week alongside Trump and 16 others, who are accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters in a desperate bid to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. It was the fourth criminal case brought against the Republican former president.
Eastman, a former dean of Chapman University law school in Southern California, faces charges related to his advice to Trump on how the former president could overturn the 2020 election.
Hall is accused of conspiring to unlawfully access voter data and ballot counting machines at the Coffee County Election office on Jan. 7, 2021. His seven charges include one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud Georgia, and three felony counts related to his alleged actions in Coffee County.
He was the author of a memo that argued Trump could stay in power if then-Vice President Mike Pence refused to certify the 2020 Electoral College results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. Eastman proposed that several contested states, including Georgia, put in place a slate of ‘alternate’ electors who would claim that Trump had won their states based on unproven allegations of fraud.
Eastman said in a statement provided by his lawyers that he was surrendering Tuesday ‘to an indictment that should never have been brought.’ He lambasted the indictment for targeting ‘attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients’ and said each of the 19 defendants was entitled to rely on the advice of lawyers and past legal precedent to challenge the election results.
Two other defendants, former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark and former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer, have filed paperwork to transfer the case to federal court. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also did so last week, saying his actions were taken in service to his White House role.
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Judge Scott McAfee of the Fulton County Superior Court set bond for Trump at $200,000 after he was indicted on 13 counts last week as a result of Willis’ investigation.
Trump will be processed Thursday in Fulton County, a source familiar told Fox News Digital. The source said this will take place Thursday afternoon, but the exact timing is unclear at this point.
The source said Trump will have his arraignment and first court appearance in September.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Brandon Gillespie and The Associated Press contributed to this report.