Donald Trump is to surrender to a fraud charge in a Georgia prison on Thursday, setting the stage for a fourth criminal trial next year as he campaigns to retake the White House.
The 77-year-old former president will be held at the infamous Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on charges of conspiring with 18 co-defendants to try to overturn the 2020 election results in the key Southern state.
The billionaire real estate tycoon’s booking, which may include a mugshot for the first time, comes just hours after he declined to debate eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump may have been absent from the televised debate stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but he still made headlines and was the focus of questions from candidates seeking to be Republican standard-bearers next year.
Asked whether they would support Trump as the party’s nominee even if he was convicted of one of the four criminal counts, everyone except former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said no. The candidate raised his hand.