Trump indictment in Georgia: John Eastman turns himself in

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The second of 19 people charged, including former President Donald Trump, as part of an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia turned himself in to face charges on Tuesday morning, according to jail records and WSB-TV.

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John Eastman, who served as an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was booked into Fulton County Jail on conspiracy and other charges.

Prosecutors said Eastman was a key architect of an attempt to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence into rejecting the official Democratic electors in Georgia, WSB reported. He pushed for the vice president to instead accept “alternate” Trump electors, according to the news station. In December 2022, a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol recommended that Eastman face charges.

In a statement obtained by CNN, Eastman said he and his legal team plan to “vigorously contest every count of the indictment” handed down last week by a Fulton County grand jury.

“I am here today to surrender to an indictment that should never have been brought,” Eastman said.

“It represents a crossing of the Rubicon for our country, implicating the fundamental First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances. … It targets attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients, something attorneys are ethically bound to provide and which was attempted here by formally challenging the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means.”

Eastman surrendered one day after five defendants in the case, including Trump, negotiated bond terms with officials in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, according to WSB. The news station reported that Eastman’s bond was set at $100,000.

Scott Hall, an Atlanta-area bail bondsman accused of conspiring to steal sensitive election data in Coffee County, also turned himself in on Tuesday morning.

Last week, a grand jury indicted 19 people accused of scheming to overturn Georgia’s election results in the 2020 presidential election. Alongside Trump, Eastman and Hall, others charged include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Cheseboro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.

Trump has long claimed that he won the election in Georgia, though he lost to President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes, WSB reported. He has called the investigation and others examining his conduct politically motivated and said they are part of a witch hunt meant to damage his chances in the 2024 presidential election.

Trump announced last year that he is running for the GOP presidential nomination.

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