The latest on the Georgia 2020 election subversion case

Scott Hall, John Eastman, David Shafer, Cathy Latham, Kenneth Chesebro, Ray Smith, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis 

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has charged former President Donald Trump and 18 others with participating in schemes to meddle with Georgia’s 2020 election results.

All 19 co-defendants must surrender ahead of a noon Friday deadline set by Willis when she unveiled last week’s sweeping indictment over attempts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Here’s what you should know:

Brian Tevis, an attorney representing Rudy Giuliani in Georgia, told CNN that it is “very premature to be saying what is the defense going to be” when asked if Giuliani would be using his status as a lawyer for former president Donald Trump as a defense in the Georgia election subversion case. 

Tevis, a Georgia attorney who represented Giuliani in bond and surrender negotiations with the Fulton County district attorney’s office, said he does not know if he will continue to represent the former mayor in the case.

When Collins asked Tevis if Giuliani is paying him for his work, he responded, “I don’t want to get into any attorney-client privilege or discussions about things that my client and I have discussed.”

He added, “I don’t discuss my clients’ finances or arrangements between us in any of my cases and this one’s no different.”

Tevis said he did not know who paid for the private plane that Giuliani flew on to Georgia Wednesday.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows walks along the South Lawn before President Donald Trump departs from the White House on October 30, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Mark Meadows’ attempt to move her election subversion case to federal court should be rejected because the conduct in question was “political activity” outside of his official duties as former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff.

Willis sought to counter Meadows’ claim, made as part of his effort to move the charges against him to federal court, that he is immune from the state prosecution because the indictment targets conduct he was doing as an agent of the federal government.

Her office argued that the episodes involving him that were highlighted in last week’s grand jury indictment fit a pattern of him and other Trump White House officials ignoring a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, that prohibits the use of one’s federal office to engage in political activity.

Meadows’ “lack of care for the lawful scope of his official duties is a matter of record,” the district attorney told the court, and she said Meadows’ own court filings in the removal dispute “makes no mention of the fact that every single one of the activities giving rise to his indictment constitutes impermissible political activity which a Chief of Staff may not lawfully perform ‘under color of office.’”

Willis’ filing, which was submitted ahead of a Monday hearing in Atlanta before US District Judge Steve Jones, is a preview of how she could fight against a similar effort by Trump, who is also expected to seek that the state court proceedings be moved to federal court. 

It also hints at the evidence she is assembling for Monday’s hearing, with references to House January 6 committee depositions given by top Trump White House aides who witnessed episodes involving Meadows that Willis contends were overt acts of the alleged RICO conspiracy.

Her office has also issued subpoenas for testimony at Monday’s hearing to two lawyers who were present on the Trump call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, which is central to the allegations Fulton County prosecutors are making against the former White House chief of staff. 

A federal judge has rejected a bid by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to block Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from arresting him if he fails to turn himself in by the Friday noon deadline. 

US District Judge Steve Jones declined the emergency request by Meadows, who argued he should be allowed to avoid processing in the election subversion case ahead of a hearing scheduled Monday in his effort to move the charges against him to federal court. 

Jones wrote that “the clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution, does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting District Attorney Willis’s enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows.”

The broader efforts by Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to move their cases to federal court will continue.

All of the defendants in the Georgia election subversion case face a deadline of noon ET on Friday to surrender at the Fulton County jail.

A federal judge rejected an effort by former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest or having to surrender in the Fulton County 2020 election subversion case.

US District Judge Steve Jones denied the request by Clark, who asked for an emergency federal court order that would have put on pause the entirety of the state court proceedings – including efforts to arrest any of the case’s defendants – in the prosecution brought by District Attorney Fani Willis.

Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — both indicted in the Georgia election subversion case — surrendered to the Fulton County Jail on Wednesday.

A total of 19 defendants are facing charges stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Several defendants, including former President Donald Trump, have yet to turn themselves in. They have until noon ET on Friday to do so.

Jenna Ellis, a member of then-President Donald Trump's legal team, speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Nov. 19, 2020, in Washington, DC.

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, who was indicted in the Georgia election subversion case, has surrendered at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta.

District Attorney Fani Willis charged Ellis last week with two state crimes: violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath.

Ellis planned hearings in 2020 before Georgia lawmakers where she and other Donald Trump allies pushed baseless fraud claims. She also wrote legal memos arguing Pence could block Joe Biden’s victory from being certified by Congress on January 6, 2021, though that isn’t part of the charges.

She is now supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary and recently bashed Trump’s decision not to participate in the first GOP primary debate.

Rudy Giuliani was treated and processed like “everybody else” who is booked at the local jail — a process that includes fingerprints and mugshots being taken, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat told CNN.

The arrest, booking and release of Giuliani took less than an hour.

CNN previously reported that defendants in the election subversion case have been quickly ushered through the process, which typically stretches for multiple hours.

A total of 19 defendants in this case are facing charges stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

When asked if the booking process was expedited for Giuliani, Labat said it was the “same process as all 19.”

Several defendants, including former President Donald Trump, have yet to turn themselves in. They have until noon ET on Friday to do so.

After emerging from jail, Giuliani told reporters: “I am very, very honored to be involved in this case because this case is a fight for our way of life.”

He went on to say that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis “will go down in American history as having conducted one of the worst attacks on the American Constitution ever when this case is dismissed.”

Giuliani visited a bail bonds agent afterward.

Kenneth Chesebro.

Ken Chesebro, the pro-Trump lawyer who devised the “fake electors” scheme, asked a Georgia judge Wednesday to throw out the charges against him in the Fulton County election subversion case. 

Motions like these are common at the start of a criminal case, and they are rarely successful.

The request came in procedural filing where Chesebro asserted many of the rights he has a criminal defendant – like the right to a speedy trial, and to receive “discovery” evidence from prosecutors.

Chesebro’s attorney said the indictment “fails to sufficiently set out the charge or any violation of the law” and lacks other essential details that are needed to move forward – and thus should be tossed.

The filing also asks Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to schedule a hearing so he can scrutinize what evidence the prosecutors will need to turn over as part of the discovery process.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told a federal court that it should not interfere in any efforts to arrest Mark Meadows, should the former White House chief of staff fail to turn himself in by Friday’s noon deadline.

In a court filing Wednesday, Willis called Meadows’ request for a federal court to intervene “improper” and “baseless.” 

Both Meadows and Jeffrey Clark are seeking to move the state court criminal case against them to federal court, where they argue that the charges against them should be dismissed.

Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, faces two charges in the Fulton County grand jury indictment, which alleges that his participation on the January 2021 Trump call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was unlawful. Clark faces two charges stemming from his alleged efforts as a then-Justice Department official to aid Trump’s election reversal plots. 

US District Judge Steve Jones, who has been assigned both the Meadows and Clark matters, has indicated he wants to act quickly in response to the emergency orders that would allow Meadows and Clark to avoid arrest. Now that Willis has responded, Jones may act at any time.

Rudy Giuliani enters Fulton County jail, on August 23.

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has turned himself in at an Atlanta jail and will be booked on 13 charges in the Georgia election subversion case.

Giuliani entered the Fulton County jail, where he will be processed.

Watch the moment:

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01:11 - Source: CNN

Sidney Powell, one of former President Donald Trump’s election lawyers, turned herself in to the Fulton County jail this afternoon to be booked.

Powell had struck a $100,000 bail agreement with prosecutors.

She will be subject to the same standard release conditions as her co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case, including prohibitions on committing additional crimes or contacting witnesses.

Powell promoted baseless theories about voter fraud. She was also at a White House meeting with Trump in December 2020 where there was a discussion of appointing her as a special counsel to “investigate allegations of voter fraud in Georgia and elsewhere,” according to the indictment.

Rudy Giuliani speaks to reporters as he leaves his apartment building in New York on Wednesday before flying to Atlanta.

Rudy Giuliani has reached a bond agreement with prosecutors in the Fulton County election subversion case. 

The former New York mayor has agreed to a $150,000 bond. As part of the bond order negotiated Wednesday between Giuliani’s attorneys and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office, Giuliani agreed to follow other rules that have similarly been imposed on his co-defendants in the case, including not talking about the case with co-defendants and witnesses except through counsel.

In the indictment handed up last week, Giuliani, who worked as one of former President Donald Trump’s most outspoken attorneys in 2020, was charged with 13 crimes, including breaking the state’s racketeering act, engaging in various criminal conspiracies, and soliciting a public officer in the state to violate their oath.   

Giuliani aided Trump’s efforts to reverse the election results in the Peach State, promoting unhinged conspiracy theories about the election and pushing lies about widespread fraud there at a hearing before state lawmakers.  

Giuliani also supported the fake elector scheme, and he spoke at Trump’s infamous rally that preceded the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, in favor of then-Vice President Mike Pence using his role in the Electoral College certification process to nullify Biden’s win.   

Attorney Brian Tevis enters the District Attorney's Office at the Fulton County Government Center in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Brian Tevis, the Georgia-based lawyer representing Rudy Giuliani, just walked in the front entrance of Superior Court of Fulton County.

CNN asked Tevis if he was representing Giuliani for the rest of the trial, and he responded that it remains to be seen.  

CNN also asked him if he was being paid, but Tevis did not answer.

Six defendants in the criminal case over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia have surrendered at the Fulton County jail so far.

A total of 14 have reached bond agreements with prosecutors that have been signed by a judge.

Former President Donald Trump plans to surrender to Fulton County authorities on Thursday.

A total of 19 defendants have been charged in the case. They face a deadline of noon Friday to turn themselves in.

Here’s who struck a bond agreement so far:

Upon landing in Atlanta, Rudy Giuliani is expected to meet with his attorneys at a local law office before a meeting with the district attorney’s office to discuss terms of a bond agreement, CNN has learned.

CNN reporters saw Giuliani’s attorneys enter a local law office after touching down in Atlanta.

It is not clear if Giuliani himself will attend a meeting later today with prosecutors at the Fulton County courthouse complex, but he is expected to surrender once a bond agreement is reached, as CNN reported earlier Wednesday.  

Misty Hampton

Former Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton has reached a $10,000 bail agreement with prosecutors, according to court filings.

The agreement mirrors the bond packages many other defendants have secured in the election subversion case in Georgia, and it requires that Hampton turn herself in to the Fulton County jail by noon Friday.

In District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against Donald Trump and his allies, Hampton faces seven charges stemming from allegations that she facilitated a breach in Coffee County voter systems by the former president’s supporters.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 7.

The Fulton County election subversion case marks the first time release conditions for Donald Trump have included a cash bond and a prohibition on intimidation through social media. 

The criminal case is the fourth brought against the former president this year.

In the previous cases, the conditions for Trump’s release after arrest and pending trial have been largely routine:

The timing for former President Donald Trump’s processing at the Fulton County jail was a product of negotiations between his legal team and law enforcement, among others, all seeking to get the former president in and out as quickly as possible and without shutting down the entire city of Atlanta, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversations.

As CNN previously reported, Trump is expected to be processed Thursday evening at the Fulton County Jail.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis arrives at a press conference in the Fulton County Government Center in Atlanta on August 14.

District Attorney Fani Willis has until 3 p.m. ET today to file court submissions responding to requests by Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark – both defendants in her election subversion case against former President Donald Trump and several of his associates – that they be allowed to avoid arrest in her prosecution. 

The dispute is playing out in federal court in Atlanta. Both Meadows and Clark are seeking to move the state court criminal case against them to federal court, where they argue that the charges against them should be dismissed. As part of that effort, they each filed requests for emergency court orders that would prevent Willis from seeking their arrest if they did not turn themselves in by the Friday noon deadline for self-surrender that Willis has set for the defendants in the case. 

Meadows, who has a hearing scheduled for Monday in his effort to move the proceedings, had asked for Willis to extend the deadline for turning himself in until at least next week, after the hearing, according to court filings. But she rejected that request, writing in an email to his attorneys that come 12:30 p.m. ET Friday, she would file a warrant in the system for him if he had not self-surrendered. 

Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, faces two charges in the Fulton County grand jury indictment, which alleges that his participation on the January 2021 Trump call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was unlawful. Clark faces two charges stemming from his alleged efforts as a then-Justice Department official to aid Trump’s election reversal plots. 

US District Judge Steve Jones, who has been assigned both the Meadows and Clark matters, has indicated he wants to act quickly in response to the emergency orders that would allow Meadows and Clark to avoid arrest. He blew past a Clark request to issue such an order by Tuesday but scheduled the 3 pm Wednesday deadline for Willis’ office to respond.

The judge, an Obama appointee, also set a 3 p.m. ET deadline for the district attorney to respond to the Meadows bid to prevent law enforcement from arresting him at Willis’ request. Jones indicated he would not be accepting additional filings from Meadows and Clark responding to the arguments Willis makes in her submissions – a sign that the judge intends to issue his decisions soon after the Willis filings come in. 

Some context: Both Meadows and Clark are arguing that the alleged conduct for which they are being charged in the case was conducted to their roles as federal officials at the time, and therefore, the charges should be dismissed under a federal law giving certain immunity to people prosecuted for activities done on behalf of the US government.