In mid-August, another indictment of Donald Trump dropped, this time in Fulton County, GA. He wasn't alone, as 18 others were indicted as co-conspirators in what is being pursued as a RICO case by far-left DA Fani Willis.
Now, the conditions of Trump's release have been set as the former president gets ready to turn himself in within days of this writing.
BREAKING: Trump $200,000 Bond Set | Conditions Revealed | Trump Team Agrees
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 21, 2023
Trump has to pay a $200,000 bond in the Fulton County, Georgia case. Conditions include:
- Cannot intimidate any co-defendants or witnesses
- Cannot threaten witnesses or co-defendants, directly or… pic.twitter.com/JmBkUMOCTC
The bond total coming in at $200,000 will likely not surprise anyone. That seems to be fairly routine for a white collar crime case. What will likely push the matter into controversy, though, are the conditions on Trump's behavior.
The bond agreement — known as a consent bond order — sets strict rules for Trump’s release. Trump is not allowed to communicate with witnesses or co-defendants about the case, except through his lawyers, and he is barred from intimidating witnesses or co-defendants. He is also forbidden from making any “direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community,” including in “posts on social media or reposts of posts” by others on social media.
“The defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him … to be a co-defendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” the agreement says.
Those are stipulations that the former president would have run afoul of in the recent past if they had been in force. Specifically, he recently made a post attacking former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, in which he called "Jeff Duncan" a failed politician who shouldn't testify. He also attacked Mike Pence personally. Posts like that are almost certainly going to be considered intimidation going forward.
Another question is whether Trump's past posts that vaguely urge people to "do something" about his plight will be now interpreted as some kind of incitement from this point forward. Ultimately, that's up to the judge, but the former president is likely being told by his lawyers to tread carefully.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this article inadvertently referenced mid-May rather than mid-August. We apologize to our readers for this error.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member