Five more defendants in the Fulton County Trump case surrendered overnight at the Fulton County jail, hours after former President Donald Trump himself traveled to Atlanta to be booked.
First up, Michael Roman, a Trump campaign official. He was granted a $50,000 bond on Tuesday and was booked shortly after midnight on Friday morning.
He was charged with violation of the state’s RICO act, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, conspiracy to commit filing false documents, two counts each of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiracy to commit false statements and writings.
Roman worked for the 2020 Trump campaign as director of Election Day operations. He helped organize slates of phony Trump electors purporting to represent the electoral votes from battleground states, including Georgia.
Credit: AJC File
Credit: AJC File
Next in line was Shawn Still, a state senator who represents Georgia’s 48th District. He also was booked shortly after midnight.
Still, a Republican elector, was granted a $10,000 signature bond Tuesday. He is being charged with violation of the State’s RICO Act, impersonating a public officer, criminal attempt to commit filing false documents and two counts each of forgery in the first degree and false statements and writings.
Under Georgia law, Still could be suspended from the Senate while the case is pending. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis forwarded a copy of the indictments to Gov. Brian Kemp last week.
A Kemp spokesman confirmed the governor had received a copy of the indictment. He now must wait 14 days before appointing a three-member panel — Republican Attorney General Chris Carr and one member each from the House of Representatives and Senate — to review Still’s case.
Still was one of 16 Republican electors who met to cast their ballots for Trump in December 2020 — even as the state’s official electors met to cast their ballots for Biden. He also sued to decertify all of Georgia’s presidential election results based on allegations that there were problems with voting equipment in Coffee County.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Around 1 a.m., Jeffrey Clark, a senior Department of Justice official, was booked. He had been issued a $100,000 bond after being charged with violation of the state’s RICO Act and criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings.
Clark drafted a letter on government letterhead in December 2020 stating that DOJ had “significant concerns” about fraud that may have affected the outcome of the election in Georgia and other states, even though no such concerns existed. The letter, which was not sent, urged Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other state leaders to convene a special session of the General Assembly to invalidate official election results and select the winner themselves.
Trump briefly considered appointing Clark to be acting attorney general but backed down after senior officials threatened to resign in protest
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
About 30 minutes later, shortly after 1:30 a.m., Misty Hampton, the former elections supervisor in Coffee County, was booked after having been issued a $10,000 signature bond.
Hampton was charged with violation of the Georgia RICO Act, conspiracy to defraud the state, two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to commit computer trespass, and conspiracy to commit computer theft.
When serving as the elections supervisor for Coffee County, Hampton was present when Trump supporters accessed voting data. A video she recorded just after the election, raising questions about the security of voting machines, captured the attention of Trump’s team.
Credit: AJC File
Credit: AJC File
Then, around 3 a.m., Bob Cheeley, an attorney in Alpharetta, was booked. He’d already received a $50,000 bond.
Cheeley was charged with violation of the Georgia RICO Act, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy to commit filing false documents, two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, false statements and writings and perjury.
Cheeley presented video clips to state legislators showing election workers handling ballots at State Farm Arena. He asserted poll workers were double- and triple-counting votes and compared what he said had happened to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Credit: AJC File
Credit: AJC File
After the overnight surrenders, just two more of the 19 defendants have yet to be booked — Trevian Kutti and Stephen Cliffgard Lee. The deadline is today at noon.
Kutti is the former publicist of rapper Kanye West. Lee is an Illinois pastor.
— AJC reporter Caitlin Thompson contributed to this article.
