Georgia racketeering case: Trump faces $271k bond, plans to turn himself in
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Former US president Donald Trump is facing four criminal trials as he bids for a return to the White House.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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ATLANTA – A Georgia judge approved a US$200,000 (S$271,300) bond for Donald Trump on Monday in the racketeering case filed against the former US president
Trump and the other 18 co-defendants in the landmark case have until noon local time (midnight in Singapore) on Friday to turn themselves in to the authorities in Georgia to be booked.
Trump will surrender on Thursday, CNN reported, quoting two sources familiar with the plan.
Aside from the US$200,000 bond for the Republican billionaire, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee imposed several conditions in an agreement approved by prosecutors and Trump attorneys.
“The defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a co-defendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” Judge McAfee said in a three-page court filing.
“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media,” the judge said.
Judge McAfee set bond at US$100,000 each for two co-defendants in the case – former Trump campaign attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked the judge to set a trial date
Trump, the front runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination
He was indicted in Georgia on charges of racketeering and a string of election crimes after a sprawling, two-year probe into his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the Peach State.
Others facing charges in the alleged conspiracy include Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
‘Speedy trial’
Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked a federal judge to set a Jan 2, 2024, date for Trump to go on trial in Washington on separate charges of conspiring to upend the results of the 2020 election.
Trump’s attorneys asked Judge Tanya Chutkan last week to schedule the trial for April 2026 – long after the 2024 presidential vote.
They argued that the number of documents in the case would require months to process.
Mr Smith pushed back in a court filing on Monday, saying Trump’s defence team “exaggerates the challenge of reviewing” the evidence presented in the case.
“A proposed trial date in 2026 would deny the public its right to a speedy trial,” the special counsel said.
Judge Chutkan is to decide the date for the trial at a hearing on Aug 28.
Trump also faces a trial in New York in March 2024 for allegedly making hush money payments to a porn star
He is scheduled to go on trial in Florida in May 2024 on charges also brought by Mr Smith of mishandling top-secret government documents he took from the White House as he left office. AFP
