Two persons accused of collaborating with ex-President Donald Trump in Georgia have turned themselves in to face election tampering charges.
John Eastman, one of 19 co-defendants identified in the Georgia indictment, is charged with racketeering and conspiracy on nine counts.
Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman, has also surrendered to local authorities.
Mr. Trump is likely to surrender on the 13 accusations against him on Thursday.
The Fulton County district attorney’s office charged the former president and 18 friends last week with attempting to reverse his election defeat in the hotly disputed state of Georgia in 2020.
Prosecutors have given each defendant until Friday noon local time to surrender and be booked at the nearby Rice Street jail.
The Georgia mafia-busting law under which Trump is charged
Inside the notorious Atlanta jail where Trump is expected to surrender
In the Georgia case, who are Trump’s 18 co-accused?
Prosecutors believe Mr. Eastman, 63, is a significant figure in the attempt to influence the 2020 election results.
The former president was represented by the California law professor in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate election results in four states where he lost in 2020.
In Georgia, he is accused of being a part of a scheme to persuade state senators to ignore election results and appoint phony electors.
After being booked and spending a few hours inside the jail, he was freed on a $100,000 (£78,500) bond arrangement on Tuesday.
Mr Eastman stated in a statement that the Georgia case “targets attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients, which attorneys are ethically bound to provide.”
He stated that he would “vigorously contest every count of the indictment in which I am named, as well as every count in which others are named.”
When reporters outside the courthouse asked if he still feels the 2020 election was rigged, Mr Eastman replied, “Absolutely, no doubt in my mind.”
The lawyer’s post-election actions are currently the subject of disciplinary proceedings by the State Bar of California, which might result in him losing his California law license. Hearings scheduled for this week have been pushed back in anticipation of his surrender in Fulton County.
Mr. Eastman is also mentioned, but not named, in a second federal indictment issued this month by Special Counsel Jack Smith on election subversion charges.
Who are Trump’s six alleged accomplices?
Mr Hall became the first defendant in the Georgia case to turn himself in earlier on Tuesday.
The Atlanta bail bondsman faces seven charges in connection with his alleged involvement in a voting system hack in Coffee County in January 2021.
He was released on Tuesday after signing a $10,000 bond deal and spending about an hour in jail.
Other defendants, including accused false electors Shawn Still and David Shafer, have also obtained bond terms with the help of their attorneys.
The Georgia case is the most recent in a slew of criminal charges leveled against Mr. Trump.
What counts are listed in Trump’s Georgia indictment?
Trump’s extremely erratic court and campaign schedule
Prosecutors in Fulton County accuse him of plotting to undermine the will of the state’s electorate in the aftermath of his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden there.
Mr Trump has consented to a $200,000 bond as well as other conditions of release, including a prohibition on using social media to directly or indirectly harm suspected co-conspirators or possible witnesses.
The Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential race reaffirmed his assertion that the lawsuit was “all about ELECTION INTERFERENCE” in a Monday night post on his Truth Social platform.
The former president is also facing 78 accusations in three other criminal investigations, including one involving his alleged mishandling of secret documents.
