Rudy Giuliani ‘feeling very good’ as he heads to Georgia to surrender to authorities – live | US politics

Trump to surrender during primetime hours to his benefit

Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump – seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus – in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place on Thursday evening during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks.

Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the primetime scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday.

Trump returned to his instinct to maximize television ratings to his benefit for his surrender to authorities in Atlanta, the people said, and could extend the coverage of the proceedings by speaking afterwards in front of cameras and reporters.

The strategy to turn surrenders in each of his four criminal cases into spectacles has been an effort to discredit the indictments, as well as to capitalize on the information void left by prosecutors after such events to foist his own spin on the charges.

While he would prefer not to be charged, once indicted, Trump has moved to present himself as defiant and lament to his supporters that he supposedly is the victim of partisan investigations, for which he needs their political and financial support.

Ed Pilkington

Rudy Giuliani has dined out for years on his aggressive use of Rico, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which he wielded with dramatic effect against New York mobsters in the 1980s.

For his pains, he was granted an award by the Italian government. Later, as New York City mayor, he turned his use of the anti-racketeering law into a vote-getter, presenting himself as the hero of Rico.

As an in-joke, he handed the keys of the city to the cast of the Sopranos. Then he went on Saturday Night Live and bragged about “sticking it to organised crime”.

He may not be laughing so loudly now.

Giuliani, Donald Trump and 17 other co-defendants have been slapped with organised crime charges in Georgia under the state’s Rico law, for allegedly having been part of a vast conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The hero of Rico had been hoist with his own petard.

The irony that Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county who is leading the prosecution, chose to hit the hero of Rico with a Rico rap has not been lost on Giuliani watchers. Appointed as US attorney for the southern district of New York in 1983, he did not so much invent the anti-racketeering law, which was enacted in 1970, as become an early adopter in its use against organised crime.

Rudy Giuliani is expected to travel to Georgia with the former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

CNN reported on Wednesday morning that Kerik, identified as co-conspirator No5 in the case, has been assisting Giuliani to find a lawyer to represent him.

Tim Parlatore, a lawyer representing Kerik, told CNN that he was “not sure” if Giuliani had yet found himself a Georgia-based lawyer, while noting that it would be normal to be required to have one, as part of bond arrangements when turning oneself in to face charges.

In early 2020, Trump pardoned Kerik for crimes including tax fraud and lying to investigators, for which Kerik had been sentenced to four years in jail.

Later that year, Kerik worked with Giuliani on attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, a push which culminated in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol as supporters of Trump violently tried but failed to ensure that Congress would not certify Biden’s win.

Rudy Giuliani, who served as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said he was traveling to Georgia to surrender to face charges in the sprawling elections racketeering case.

Giulani is expected to travel to Georgia with former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. CNN reported on Wednesday morning that Kerik, identified as co-conspirator No5 in the case, has been assisting Giuliani to find a lawyer to represent him.

Speaking in New York, Giuliani said:

I’m going to Georgia and I’m feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I’m defending the rights of all Americans.

The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, delivered a sweeping indictment earlier this month that charges Donald Trump, along with more than a dozen co-defendants, with 41 counts including racketeering, conspiracy, solicitation and filing false statements.

These are the other defendants charged in the indictment, which alleges a coordinated group effort to pressure Georgia officials into changing the outcome of the 2020 election.

Kenneth Chesebro, the attorney who allegedly helped devise the fake elector scheme to subvert the 2020 presidential election, and Ray Smith, a Georgia lawyer who worked for Trump following the election, surrendered to Fulton county authorities today, according to jail records.

Chesebro has been revealed to be one of the main architects of the fake electors scheme, which he described as a “bold, controversial plan”. The New York Times obtained a copy of a memo from Chesebro to a Wisconsin attorney laying out a three-pronged plan to overturn election results in six states, including Georgia, and keep Donald Trump in power.

Smith is accused of advising the alternate GOP electors who met at the state capital and cast votes for Trump and signed documents that falsely claimed Trump had won the election. Following the November 2020 election, Smith sent a letter to Georgia’s Republican…