Donald Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday in the Georgia 2020 election subversion case – and when he does the former president will have three different options to pay the $200,000 bond that will keep him from being detained in the facility as his case unfolds.
District Attorney Fani Willis has given the defendants until noon Friday to surrender at the jail and a number of them have negotiated so-called bond orders with her office to ensure a speedy surrender process.
As of Tuesday afternoon, just two of the defendants had surrendered.
Here’s what to know about paying a bond in Fulton County and three different ways to do so to avoid being detained:
- The first is with cash, which would require the amount to be paid in full at the jail.
- The second way is through “commercial surety,” in which a defendant would use a professional bonding company. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office publishes an “approved bonding list” for companies it works with. If a defendant goes with this option, the company doesn’t actually pay any money to the county, but the defendant would have to pay a fee to the company for using their services.
- The third option is the “Fulton County Jail 10% program,” which allows a defendant to pay just 10% of their total bond amount — plus fees and other associated costs.
Trump election attorney John Eastman, who surrendered on Tuesday, went with the 10% option, as did Scott Hall, a professional bondsman in Atlanta, who was charged in the case with crimes related to his alleged involvement in the Coffee County, Georgia, voting systems breach
The consent bond orders being negotiated between the defendants’ attorneys and Willis spell out the conduct a defendant is prohibited from engaging in and specifies the amount of money they have to pay for each count brought against them in the case.
For Trump, who was charged with 13 crimes in the case, his $200,000 includes $80,000 for allegedly violating Georgia’s racketeering act and $10,000 for each of the remaining 12 counts brought against him.
Unlike some of his co-defendants, the former president is explicitly barred in his order from using social media to target his 18 co-defendants in the case, as well as any witnesses and the 30 unindicted co-conspirators.
The Fulton County election subversion case marks the first time the release conditions for Trump have included a cash bond and a prohibition on intimidation through social media.