Atlanta: On Wednesday, Rudy Giuliani turned himself in to Georgia authorities amid allegations that he was the chief conspirator in a scheme to rig the 2020 election with former President Donald Trump.
The former mayor of New York City is accused of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act along with Trump and 17 other people. He was hailed as "America's mayor" for his leadership following 9/11. Only Trump's $200,000 bond is higher than the one set for him at $150,000.
He was booked on Wednesday afternoon, according to jail records.
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Giuliani, 79, is charged with leading Trump's efforts to pressure state legislators in Georgia and other hotly contested states to disregard the will of the people and improperly appoint electoral college electors in Trump's favour.
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Georgia was one of many crucial states that Trump lost by narrow margins, leading the Republican and his allies to claim—without any supporting evidence—that the election was rigged in favour of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
Giuliani is accused of forging documents, soliciting false testimony, and asking state legislators to break their oath of office in order to appoint a different slate of pro-Trump electors.
Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, has declared that Giuliani will receive a prison sentence if found guilty.
Giuliani has maintained his innocence and claimed he had every right to question what he perceived to be election fraud. He described the charges as "an affront to American democracy" and a "outright assault on the First Amendment."
As he left his New York apartment on Wednesday, Giuliani told reporters, "I'm feeling very, very good about it because I feel like I'm defending the rights of all Americans, as I did so many times as a United States attorney." He added that he is "fighting for justice" and has been since he first began representing Trump.
