Rudy Giuliani Surrenders at Georgia Jail on Election Meddling Charges
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The former New York City mayor is expected to get his mug shot taken during the booking process. His bond was set at $150,000 on Wednesday
Rudy Giuliani surrendered to authorities on Wednesday afternoon, answering to more than a dozen felony charges brought against him by a Georgia grand jury in relation to interference in the 2020 presidential election.
Giuliani, 79, was among 18 allies of former president Donald Trump that were indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County on Aug. 14. The former New York City mayor's bond was set at $150,000.
The case, brought forth by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, alleges that Trump, 77, and his co-defendants committed over a dozen felonies — including violating the Georgia RICO Act — in an attempt to overturn the state's November 2020 election results.
Related: Donald Trump Indicted for Attempting to Overturn 2020 Election Results in Georgia
Giulani was charged with 13 counts, including racketeering and false statements and writings. As one of Trump’s most visible lawyers, he spent months hosting press conferences and appearing on television and in courtrooms to contest the results of the election.
A subpoena issued to Giuliani earlier in the investigation noted that he appeared before the Georgia state Senate in December 2020 and made "statements, both to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings, claiming widespread voter fraud in Georgia ... using the now-debunked State Farm Video in support of those statements."
The video in question, publicized by Giuliani, falsely purports to show local election workers bringing suitcases full of fake ballots for Biden into the State Farm Arena, then running them through the machines multiple times.
Two election workers thrown into the middle of the conspiracy — Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — testified before a House committee in 2022 to detail the threats they received in light of the video, including threats “wishing death upon” them.
In July, Giuliani admitted that he had made false and defamatory statements about Freeman and Moss, and said he no longer contests the accusations.
He is currently defending himself against disbarment proceedings in Washington, D.C. and New York, both in direct responses to his false election claims.
The focus of the two grand juries convened in the Fulton County case was whether Trump or his allies engaged in possible crimes related to their efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia, a historically red state where he lost the popular vote to Democrat Joe Biden.
The former president pinned his Georgia loss on fraud almost immediately after the election, all while pressuring officials in the state to “find” votes in his favor.
A Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — during which the former president told Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” for him — was leaked to the Washington Post and then made public, and helped spark the various investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.
Pool / Pool/Getty Images
Then-President Donald Trump sits at his desk in the Oval Office on May 1, 2020Among the several other allies charged in the case are Trump attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Bob Cheeley, Ray Smith III and Kenneth Chesebro; as well as former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; former assistant U.S. attorney general Jeffrey Clark; former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer; and current Georgia state Sen. Shawn Still.
Additional defendants include a GOP strategist, local elections officials, an Atlanta bail bondsman, a publicist, an Illinois pastor and a onetime congressional candidate.
After the indictment was processed on Aug. 14, Willis said that she would request a trial date within six months with the goal of trying all 19 defendants together.
Trump now faces a total of 91 criminal counts that he’s been indicted on this year between four ongoing investigations, several of which come with recommended prison time. If convicted of violating the Georgia RICO Act — classified a step above felony, as a “serious felony” — Trump would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
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