Trump surrenders for Georgia election interference case

 WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) 

Former U.S. President Donald Trump turned himself in on Thursday to the authorities in Atlanta for the Georgia election interference case.

Trump flew from New Jersey, where his golf club is located, to Atlanta and arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Thursday evening.

His motorcade arrived at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta at around 7:35 p.m. EDT (2335 GMT) to have himself booked. The former president left the jail about 20 minutes later after he was released on bond. A judge in Atlanta set bail for Trump at 200,000 U.S. dollars on Monday.

Trump was fingerprinted, and had a mug shot taken like other people who were accused of state crimes, it is reported. Before boarding his plane on the way back home, Trump told reporters that he did nothing wrong. "We did nothing wrong at all. And we have every right, every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest," he said. He repeated his previous claims that the 2020 presidential election was "rigged" and "stolen".

"What they are doing is election interference. They are trying to interfere with an election. ... This is their way of campaigning," he added, referring to the 2024 presidential election, where he is seeking re-election.

Trump and 18 others were indicted on Aug. 14 over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.

Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state's racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate his oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiring to file false documents. The indictment followed a two-and-a-half-year investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

The probe was launched after audio was leaked from a January 2021 phone call during which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to question the validity of thousands of ballots, especially in the heavily Democratic Atlanta area. Trump said he wanted to "find" the votes to erase his 2020 loss in the state. The Georgia case is the fourth criminal case to be brought against Trump.

 The former president is facing separate federal charges for plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and for mishandling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

In March, he was indicted on New York state charges of falsifying business records in connection with hush-money payments to an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election.