Absent Trump steals show at GOP debate

ATLANTA/MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump was expected to surrender on racketeering charges at a Georgia jail on Thursday, setting the stage for a fourth criminal trial next year as he campaigns to recapture the White House.

The 77-year-old former president will be arrested at Atlanta's notorious Fulton County Jail, accused of conspiring with 18 co-defendants to try to overturn the 2020 election result in the key southern state.

The booking of the billionaire real estate tycoon, which may feature a mug shot for the first time, comes just hours after he spurned a primary debate featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump may have been absent from the stage of the televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but he still stole the spotlight and was the focus of questions posed to the candidates seeking to be the Republican standard-bearer next year.

Asked if they would support Trump as the party's nominee even if he were convicted in one of the four criminal cases he is facing, every candidate raised their hand except former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

Instead of the debate, Trump opted for an interview with Tucker Carlson, a conservative former Fox News talk show host.

During the rambling prerecorded interview, which aired on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the same time as the debate, Trump said it did not make sense for him to take part while he was leading his rivals by"50 to 60 points" in the polls.

"Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it's going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn't even be running for president?" he said.

In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month, Trump held 47 percent of the Republican vote nationally, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropping six percentage points from July to 13 percent. None of the other candidates has broken out of single digits.

Trump dismissed the four criminal indictments filed against him as "nonsense" and said the Justice Department had been "weaponized" under Democratic President Joe Biden to hamstring his White House bid.

Security beefed up

A tight security perimeter has been set up ahead of Trump's arrival at the Fulton County Jail, an overcrowded facility that is under investigation by the Justice Department for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable living conditions.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who brought the sweeping racketeering case, set a deadline of noon on Friday for the 19 defendants to surrender.

An exact time has not been given for Trump's arrival, but the former president said in a post on his Truth Social platform it would be Thursday afternoon local time.

Trump was able to dodge the humiliation of having a mug shot taken during his previous arrests this year: In New York on charges of paying hush money to an adult movie performer, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss.

But Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said the standard procedure in Georgia is for a defendant to have a mug shot taken before they are released on bond — already set at $200,000 in Trump's case.

"Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn't matter your status, we'll have a mug shot ready for you," he said at a news conference earlier this month.

Trump's mug shot could wind up on official, or unofficial, campaign merchandise, Reuters said.

Trump's surrender comes a day after that of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal lawyer when he was in the White House and vigorously pushed the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election.

Trump will be facing four criminal trials next year — during the Republican primary season, which begins in January, and at the height of the campaign for the November 2024 presidential vote.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump's trial in Washington on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, a campaign of lies that culminated in the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Trump's attorneys have countered with an April 2026 start date — well after the 2024 election.

Agencies Via Xinhua