Sheriff’s Office Claims Trump & Allies Will Be Booked at Fulton County Jail Over 2020 Election Charges

According to the Sheriff's office, former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his 18 co-defendants will be booked into the Fulton County Jail. "At this point, based on guidance received from the District Attorney’s office and presiding judge, it is expected that all 19 defendants named in the indictment will be booked at the Rice Street Jail," said Natalie Ammons, a spokesperson for the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.

Prosecutors claim the ex-president committed over a dozen charges as part of an elaborate criminal organization designed to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Trump, his lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former state Republican Party chairman David Shafer were all charged by a Fulton County grand jury Monday evening. Trump and the other suspects have until August 25 at noon to surrender, according to District Attorney Fani Willis.

On Tuesday, the Sheriff's Office announced, "Keep in mind, defendants can turn themselves in at any time, the jail is open 24/7. Also, due to the unprecedented nature of this case, some circumstances may change with little or no warning." The Sheriff's office said that it would set aside parking space in the jail's parking lot as a media area for the local and national networks that will undoubtedly converge on the institution.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has previously said that if Trump were to be indicted, he would be treated the same as any other inmate. As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Labat told reporters at the Fulton Government Center that he had deployed deputies to New York and Miami to observe Trump's upcoming court sessions, in preparation for any unrest in downtown Atlanta. The Sheriff added that the former president, should he face charges, would be booked and photographed at the Rice Street prison in the same manner as any other inmate. 

Labat said in front of the journalists, "It doesn’t matter your status. We have a mugshot ready for you, if an indictment came today, we would be ready. Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices." All regular services would be up and running, he added, and a secure environment would be provided "for those we actually service."

The Sheriff also claimed that, as prospective charges approach, his office has reviewed hundreds of threats made against himself, Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis, and judges in recent weeks. He said, "The threats have been many, they started via email, via text messages, via personal phone calls ... When you make a threat, when you become a keyboard bully, it’s our goal to really come and hold you accountable."

Willis was looking into Trump and his associates' possible plans to use the 2020 Georgia presidential election as a springboard to overturn the outcomes elsewhere. Included in this is a phone conversation from the former president to Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed Raffensperger to "find" the 11,780 votes his fellow Republican party needed to win the state of Georgia.