Former President Donald Trump surrendered at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday evening and booked on more than a dozen charges stemming from what prosecutors say were efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state.

He arrived for his booking at 7:30pm, escorted by a Secret Service entourage at least a dozen black cars deep and a motorcade of law enforcement officials after traveling on his private jet from his residence in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Afterward, he made brief – and defiant – remarks.

“If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge the election. I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election. And I should have every right to do that,” he said before boarding his plane. “What has taken place here is a travesty of justice. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong.”

Throngs of Trump’s supporters and critics alike gathered early in the morning behind barricades in the parking lot across from the infamous jail ahead of the former president’s arrival, holding signs, shouting from megaphones and waving flags.

Converging with the heavy media presence and tight security, it was all but certainly the media circus Trump had hoped it would be in the wake of the first GOP presidential primary debate on Wednesday evening, which the former president chose to sit out, citing his record-setting lead in polling.

Trump and 18 of his closest allies are being charged in a sweeping racketeering scheme, which involved spreading conspiracy theories, pressuring elected officials and propping up fake electors to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia in a desperate effort to remain in power despite having lost the presidency in a free and fair vote.

The charges follow a two-year investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

The indictment marks the fourth set of criminal charges against Trump, who now faces a cumulative 91 felony counts in New York state court for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, in federal court in Florida for mishandling classified documents, in federal court in the District of Columbia for his efforts to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and incite a violent insurrection at the Capitol and now in Georgia.

Sheriff Pat Labat maintained that Trump would be treated like anyone else accused of a crime by a grand jury – and by all accounts he was. The booking process has become somewhat commonplace for Trump, even though it remains unprecedented among former presidents.

But unlike his other surrenders, this one included a photograph – a mugshot that became a part of American history the second the shutter clicked as the first former U.S. president was captured through the lens. The photo is set to be released by the county sheriff’s office on Friday.

Trump, who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has denied wrongdoing in all the cases against him and continues to repeat unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen.” In reality, Trump lost the general election to Biden, and, in Georgia specifically, he lost by some 11,779 votes.

Trump, in his remarks, repeated claims that his indictments are an attempt by Democrats and the so-called “deep state” to undermine his candidacy for president.

“What they're doing is election interference. They're trying to interfere with an election,” he said. “There’s never been anything like it in our country before. This is their way of campaigning.”

The conditions for his release, which were set last week, include a $200,000 bond and strict conditions on his social media use. Among other things, he must not violate any laws in Georgia or elsewhere, he must appear in court as directed, he must not communicate about the facts of the case with fellow co-defendants – except through his legal team – and he must not intimidate co-defendants or witnesses.

Hours before his surrender, Trump replaced one of his leading attorneys, Drew Findling, with Steve Sadow, a widely respected criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta who recently defended a rapper in a racketeering case. Shadow has long criticized Georgia prosecutors for overusing the state’s RICO law.

The sudden change in defense came as a surprise – though not entirely out of character for Trump, who has been burning through attorneys in recent months as his legal challenges mount.

At least 12 of Trump’s 18 co-defendants have surrendered already, including Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, former U.S. acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark and Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, had sought to delay his surrender date until a decision was made on his request to move his charges to federal court and dismiss the indictment altogether. But a federal judge on Wednesday denied him an extension.

The handful of other co-defendants who have yet to surrender have until noon on Friday before Willis issues warrants for their arrests.

Willis initially proposed that the trial begin on March 4 – adding to an already busy legal calendar for Trump heading into the 2024 election. But the former president is seeking to delay the case for as long as possible, including by lengthy pre-trial motions and a petition to move the charges to a federal court. Legal experts say Willis' timeline is likely untenable – though she did file a motion on Thursday to move up the timeline for the trial to Oct. 23 after one of the co-defendants filed a request for a speedy trial.

【环球时报报道 记者 赵觉珵】就在推特股东批准马斯克收购该公司交易的同一天，推特前安全主管在美国国会作证时称，推特在网络安全领域存在漏洞。美国媒体分析认为，随着美国政客热衷于将网络安全问题政治化，美国互联网公司和政客之间的角力越发激烈。

B | 据美国《华尔街日报》13日报道，今年1月被推特解雇的安全主管佩特·扎特科日前向美国国会、司法部等机构举报，宣称推特非常容易被外国政府利用，从而威胁到美国的国家安全。美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）称，扎特科13日在美国参议院司法委员会的听证会上表示，推特高管的“激励措施导致他们把利润置于安全之上”。就在他被解雇的前一周，推特公司还收到美国联邦调查局（FBI）的警告，称该公司至少有一名中国特工。扎特科还声称，他“非常肯定”至少有一名代表印度政府的特工正在从推特内部收集信息。

C | 扎特科回忆称，当时一名公司高管对可能的间谍威胁并不担忧，称这种风险不值得解决。对于扎特科的指控，推特回应称，上述听证会表明扎特科的指控“充满了前后矛盾和错误之处”。该公司的招聘过程不受任何外国势力干预，而且采取了背景调查、权限控制和监控系统等措施来保护数据。“扎特科已成为马斯克推特收购案所引发的诉讼大戏中的一个因素。”《华尔街日报》称，马斯克于今年7月试图放弃这笔交易，从而引发推特的起诉。随后马斯克提出反诉，指控推特不实陈述业务状况并虚报有关其平台用户的关键数据。不久前，马斯克获得法院批准，将扎特科的指控纳入反诉主张。而就在13日听证会当日，推特的股东批准了马斯克的收购计划。浙江大学国际联合商学院数字经济与金融创新研究中心联席主任、研究员盘和林14日对《环球时报》记者表示，围绕推特收购的博弈，各方都有各自目的。目前出现的种种言论背后可能有政商博弈，也可能有商业博弈，毕竟对于一个“有瑕疵的推特”，不收购或是压低收购价格都是合情合理的。

D | 近年来，作为全球知名社交媒体平台，推特因其内部泛滥的虚假信息等问题饱受争议。有美国问题专家告诉《环球时报》记者，推特已不是简单的社交媒体或商业公司，而深受政治影响。在收购案上将所谓的“国家安全”问题牵扯进来，无疑反映了这一概念在美国内部正被泛化。

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