Ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows surrenders in 2020 election case

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Former US President Donald Trump's one-time Chief of Staff Mark Meadows turned himself in to Fulton County authorities Thursday to be booked on charges tied to alleged efforts to overturn the state of Georgia's 2020 election results.

Meadows faces two counts -- violations of Georgia's state RICO act, an anti-racketeering law, and soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer.

Meadows, like all 19 individuals indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis earlier this month, faced a Friday deadline to surrender or face arrest warrants.

Meadows and former Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Clark had sought to have their deadline delayed and have the cases transferred to federal court, but District Court Judge Steve Jones rejected those efforts Wednesday, setting up Meadows' appearance in Fulton County.

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani turned himself in Wednesday.

All of the co-defendants are accused of being part of a criminal conspiracy that sought to illegally manipulate Georgia's and other states' election results with the intent of keeping Trump in power.

Trump is expected to turn himself in to authorities later Thursday.

He was charged in Georgia with 13 criminal counts, including violations of the Georgia state RICO Act, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer and conspiracy to commit false statements.

Trump has now been indicted four times in state and federal courts since he left office. The charges range from hush money payments to an adult film star, efforts to overturn national election results, unlawful retention of classified documents, and efforts to prevent investigators from completing their duties.

Willis' probe was sparked by a Jan. 2, 2021 telephone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he urged the senior state official to "find 11,780 votes,” the number he would have needed to win the battleground state. A recording of the call was later leaked to the media.

The investigation went on to include a probe of fake local electors who attempted to certify fraudulent election results in Trump's favor.