The Jolt: Trump’s surrender at Fulton jail could upstage GOP debate

Imagine the possible scene on Wednesday in Milwaukee, as Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential race rivals prepare for the first GOP debate, and the former president distracts attention from it all by choosing that moment to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail.

Trump’s allies in Georgia say there’s a distinct possibility he could pull off the jailhouse counterprogramming come Aug. 23. The indictment by the Fulton County grand jury on Monday requires Trump to surrender to authorities in Atlanta by Friday, Aug. 25.

According to an NBC News report, Trump aides are currently negotiating his surrender, with his lawyers and members of his Secret Service protective detail contributing to the final decision. A Wednesday visit to the jail for booking would align with Trump’s strategy to one-up a debate he seems unlikely to attend.

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Credit: WSB

Credit: WSB

LISTEN UP. Erick Erickson’s event, The Gathering, is bringing the top presidential contenders not named Donald Trump to Atlanta today and Saturday.

In our Friday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, we preview what’s at stake at The Gathering and unpack U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s comments this week about Gov. Brian Kemp. We’re also answering listener questions and naming our Who’s Up and Who’s Down for the week.

Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

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NEVER MIND. Former President Donald Trump has scrapped plans to present an “irrefutable report” that he promised would serve as a pointed rebuttal to the sprawling Fulton County indictment charging him and 18 allies with a vast criminal conspiracy. Trump had scheduled a “major news conference” for Monday.

In a post on social media late Thursday, Trump cited his lawyer’s advice for canceling the staged rebuttal. A federal judge had earlier warned him against making “inflammatory” statements related to pending prosecutions.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

SPECIAL SESSION NOT COMING. State Sen. Colton Moore is calling for a special legislative session to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for indicting former President Donald Trump and 18 others. But don’t expect leaders in the Georgia General Assembly to go along with the north Georgia Republican’s idea.

Moore is a first-term, backbench legislator with little influence, and he needs a three-fifths majority in the Legislature to back his play. Democrats rejected the call Thursday, while senior Republicans responded with a collective eye roll. One GOP member privately called it the “definition of crazy.”

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-aligned Republican who is president of the Senate, dismissed the notion of a special session, as the case will be bound up in litigation for months.

“You’d be spinning a lot of wheels and wasting a lot of taxpayer money,” Jones told WSB’s Shelley Wynter.

Credit: Katelyn Myrick/AJC

But DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston is among those who said Moore’s demand — although politically impossible — shouldn’t be taken lightly.

She drew a line between Moore’s petition and a new law that gives lawmakers the power to sanction and oust wayward prosecutors.

“Right now I’m confident if SB 92 was in full effect, we’d have someone like Colton Moore write a letter to drag her into a commission to force her to answer questions about a prosecution that she is moving forward with because a crime was potentially committed in her jurisdiction,” Boston said.

Boston, a Democrat, noted that U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, and other Republicans want to defund the Justice Department and take other steps that could impede the federal investigation of Trump.

“She now has the ear of the Speaker of the House. And it won’t shock me if she encourages House committees to investigate Fani Willis,” said Boston. “We can’t do our jobs fairly and impartially if we don’t have discretion or independence.”

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

BEG YOUR PARDON. If former President Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results land him in jail, he’ll need more than a victory in the 2024 vote to get out of the pokey.

Even as a sitting president Trump couldn’t order a dismissal of the charges leveled at him earlier this week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. And the Georgia constitution is strict on pardon rules.

Presidents cannot issue pardons for state crimes.
Georgia’s governor lacks pardoning powers.
The state’s only pardoning authority, Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, must wait five years after the completion of a sentence to consider a pardon request.

Those legal realities have already prompted Trump supporters to call for a pardon rule overhaul, reports the AJC’s Greg Bluestein.

But state leaders have so far rebuffed those appeals, noting such changes would involve a constitutional amendment. Under Georgia law, those require approval by two-thirds vote in the Legislature and a majority of voters in a ballot referendum.

A spokesman for Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, called a constitutional amendment “not feasible” and “would not merit consideration” by a legislative body.

The GOP holds a 56% majority in the House, well below the 67% needed to advance such legislation.

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SERIOUSLY. The American public considers the criminal indictments facing former President Donald Trump related to the 2020 elections “serious” — according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll.

The survey was conducted following Monday’s indictment by a Fulton County grand jury. The case names Trump as one of 19 conspirators who attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state’s election.

Of those surveyed, 63% classified the Georgia charges as “serious” or “somewhat serious.” The results echo those of a similar poll taken following a federal indictment of Trump earlier this month. That case focuses on Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which 65% of respondents labeled “serious.”

The poll also revealed 50% of Americans want Trump to suspend his presidential campaign. The former president heads into an election year facing four indictments: The two related to election interference; another charging him with misuse and withholding of classified documents; and a fourth alleging campaign finance violations.

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Credit: John Spink/AJC

EXPOSED. Grand jurors’ names are public record in Georgia, printed on every indictment document. Their home addresses and other personal information are not.

This obvious safety measure didn’t deter some bad actors from identifying where members of the Fulton County grand jury live and posting the details on at least one website as well as on social media. Those grand jurors delivered indictments of former President Donald Trump and 18 others earlier this week

Advance Democracy, a nonpartisan research group, discovered the posted addresses and called for Republican leadership to “denounce” the threats, according to NBC News.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating, the AJC’s Chris Joyner reports.

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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

President Joe Biden will host a diplomatic meeting and press conference at Camp David with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
The U.S. House and Senate are in recess until after Labor Day.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

AX THAT. As we mentioned earlier, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is headed to Iowa this weekend, where she will campaign for former President Donald Trump.

This is the final weekend for the Iowa State Fair, a common stop for candidates and their surrogates as they attempt to woo voters in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Greene, R-Rome, tells us that her schedule includes ax throwing and feeding baby animals.

“It’s gonna be so much fun,” she said. “I’m going there on behalf of him as a surrogate and with the Trump campaign. We’ve got a full day lined up; all kinds of fun things.”

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

TEACHER TOSSED. Despite a tribunal of retired educators recommending a fifth grade teacher who read a controversial book to her students to keep her job, the Cobb County School Board voted Thursday night to fire her.

The AJC’s Cassidy Alexander writes that the vote was 4-3 and split along party lines with Republicans in favor of firing Katie Rinderle and Democrats opposed.

The school board voted to uphold the recommendation from Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to fire Rinderle after the district investigated her conduct. She read a book that critics said was about gender identity but Rinderle insisted was about inclusivity.

Rinderle and her attorneys can appeal the board’s decision to the Georgia Board of Education.

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Credit: Ben Gray/AJC

IN NON-TRUMP NEWS. Happy birthday, Rosalynn Carter! The former first lady of Georgia and the United States turns 96 years old today.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

DOG OF THE DAY. It’s time to meet Millie Terry, the little pocket pitbull rescue who calls former Clarkston mayor and current DeKalb County Commissioner Ted Terry her person.

A reliable source reports Millie is “getting up there in years, but loves a good fetch.” We say Millie is only getting better with age.

Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.

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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.