FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered Thursday after a grand jury indicted him alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others following an investigation into election interference in Georgia, WSB-TV reported.
Meadows was charged with violating Georgia’s RICO Act and solicitation of a violation of oath by a public officer.
In the indictment handed down last week, authorities said Meadows tried to get Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the state’s election results to favor Trump. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by a 11,779-vote margin, WSB reported.
Trump urged Georgia secretary of state to ‘find’ votes during phone call
Meadows organized a phone call between Raffesperger and Trump in January 2021 in which the former president urged him to “find” enough votes to overturn his election loss, WSB reported. Trump has frequently defended his conduct on the call, calling it a “PERFECT PHONE CALL” as recently as Thursday.
The former president is expected to surrender to authorities Thursday night. Excluding Meadows, nine of Trump’s 17 other co-defendants have turned themselves in to face charges.
What is Georgia’s RICO law and how does it apply to Donald Trump’s case?
On Wednesday, Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Ray Smith and former Georgia GOP officials Cathy Latham and David Shafer turned themselves in. One day earlier, former Trump lawyer John Eastman and Atlanta-area bail bondsman Scott Hall surrendered at Fulton County Jail.
