All of Trump’s co-defendants have surrendered in Georgia

The Republican presidential candidates not named Donald Trump didn’t even get a full day to bask in the glory of their first debate performance before the former president once again took away the spotlight.

This time, he stole the show by going to jail.

Trump turned himself in for arrest last night at the Fulton County Jail on felony charges in connection with efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

He quickly became the biggest thing on social media with the release of his historic mug shot. Although he’s been indicted four times this year, the Georgia case is the first with a booking photo.

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David Shestokas, the attorney for defendant Stephen Lee, an Illinois-based pastor, said that his client will plead not guilty to the charges he faces and turned himself in last because he couldn't come up with the bond money until last night.

"My client has never met the president," Shestokas told reporters when asked if Lee regrets attaching his name to Trump. "He’s had no association with the president, he’s never met him, to my knowledge he’s never been in the same room."

Lee faces five counts: two of criminal attempt to commit influencing witnesses; one of violation of the Georgia RICO Act; one of influencing witnesses; one of conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements.

Shestokas rejected the charges against his client, insisting that he never intimidated any election workers. The indictment said that Lee traveled to the house of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker who was a witness in the case, in an effort to try to influence her.

Shestokas also compared Lee to Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on a door, and told reporters that his client "should be considered an American hero, not a criminal."

Former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham, who prosecutors allege took part in a scheme to illegally access voting machines in the county, has requested her case be moved to a federal court, according to a new district court filing.

Latham is one of at least five defendants who have formally motioned to have their cases moved to federal court.

The rationale for the request lies partially in the Constitution's supremacy clause, according to the filing. The filing asserts that as a contingent presidential elector, she was "an officer of the United States." If she is not found to be an officer of the U.S., "she must be held to be a person acting under officers of the United States," it claims.

Charles Shaw, the CEO of Foster Bail Bonds, has served some high-profile clients in Atlanta, including rappers T.I., Gucci Mane and Rick Ross — but none as momentous as the one he had yesterday.

"It was a historical experience, one that I’ve never experienced before and probably never will again in my life," Shaw told NBC News after helping Trump post bail. "So, very serious experience. ... We had to get it done right. And I think we did. And just think it was just something that was quite extraordinary."

Shaw called the phone call he got from Trump’s lawyer several days ago a “wow moment.”

Trump’s processing was the fastest he’s dealt with, Shaw said, describing it as “extremely professional, extremely expedient and extremely efficient.”

He confirmed that Trump's attorney paid 10% of the $200,000 bond on the former president's behalf, saying, "I think this is probably the most secured bond that I’ve ever executed in my entire career."

The bail bondsman was inside the jail while Trump was there, but in a different location because of the security measures surrounding the former president. Shaw also worked with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on his bond and was able to escort him into the jail and walk him through the entire process. Shaw called Meadows “very professional” and “very thankful to everyone there to their service."

Nikki Haley referred to Trump's mugshot as "disgraceful" in an interview on Fox News.

"I think it’s a sad day in America," she said. "I think it’s disgraceful. I mean, the idea that we’re seeing a mug shot of a 77-year-old former president. I mean, how did we get to this point? And I don’t know that anyone in America should look at that and feel good about it."

Haley also said that people should not assume that Trump will be convicted or become the GOP nominee.

Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia probe of alleged 2020 election interference have all met the Friday noon deadline to surrender at the Fulton County Jail.

Stephen Lee, a Lutheran pastor from Illinois, was the last defendant to turn himself in this morning. The former president was arrested at the jail Thursday night on felony charges of conspiring to illegally overturn the results of the last presidential election in Georgia.

All co-defendants except Harrison Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, were released on bond after they were booked. Floyd, who did not negotiate his consent bond agreement ahead of his surrender, remained in jail overnight.

Stephen Lee, a pastor at a Lutheran church in Illinois, surrendered at the Fulton County Jail this morning.

He was charged with violating Georgia's RICO statute, criminal attempt to influencing witnesses, conspiracy to commit the solicitation of false statements and writings, and influencing witnesses.

Lee is accused of traveling to the house of a witness, election worker Ruby Freeman, and attempting to influence her testimony regarding the Georgia vote count.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that Lee solicited the assistance of co-defendant Harrison Floyd to assist with his effort to speak to Freeman. Lee stated to Floyd that Freeman was afraid to talk to him "because he was a white man."

Trevian Kutti, the former publicist for Ye, the rapper previously known as Kanye West, surrendered to authorities in Fulton County this morning.

Kutti, whose bond was set at $75,000, was charged with violating Georgia's RICO law, influencing witnesses and conspiracy to commit the solicitation of false statements.

The indictment laid out how she was allegedly involved in working to contact Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker, in a false attempt to offer her help and protection, before trying to convince her to make false statements about what she observed as an election worker.

Prosecutors alleged that her involvement in these actions furthered the conspiracy to try to overturn the election results in Georgia.

Harrison Floyd remained in custody overnight at the Fulton County Jail because he did not negotiate his bond before his arrest yesterday.

Floyd, the director of Black Voices for Trump, is charged with conspiracy to solicit false statements and with trying to influence witnesses. He is expected to have an initial appearance before Judge Scott McAfee at 11 a.m., according to Fulton County court records.

Emily Hayes, also known as Misty Hampton, surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Friday.

Hampton, who served as elections director in Georgia’s Coffee County, was charged with seven counts in the indictment, which laid out an alleged scheme she participated in involving the alleged unlawful possession of ballots, computer theft and conspiracy to defraud the state.

The alleged scheme included accessing data from Dominion Voting Systems equipment in the county, which allowed people to download the information and send it to a group of people that included the Trump campaign. 

According to a 2022 report by The Washington Post, Hampton made a video that went viral after the 2020 election that she claimed showed that the voting machines in her county could be manipulated.

Georgia lawyer Robert Cheeley surrendered at the Fulton County Jail early Friday morning and was released after he was booked.

Cheeley allegedly was part of the so-called fake electors scheme and presented video clips to state legislators of election workers at Atlanta's State Farm Arena to allege they were double- and triple-counting votes.

He is charged with 10 counts, including perjury for allegedly lying to the grand jury about a Dec. 14, 2020, fake electors meeting and about his communications with John Eastman.

Trump tonight returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, and posted his mug shot.

The post included a link to his website and reiterated his claims of “election interference.” It was the same post he made to his Truth Social account this evening.

Trump last tweeted on Jan. 8, 2021. He was reinstated on Nov. 19, 2022, after Elon Musk took over the platform.

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