Judging Freedom - Trump Agrees to $200k Bond in Georgia Election Case - My analysis

Episode Date: August 22, 2023

Trump Agrees to $200k Bond in Georgia Election Case - My analysisSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, August 21st, 2023. in 23 when I learned that President Trump was compelled to post bail in the Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta, Georgia, just a few minutes ago. I thought I'd come to the microphone and A, express my dismay and even disgust that he should have to do that, and B, explain how all this works. I'll do B first. I'll explain how all this works. In my career, I probably set bail several thousand times. It's a rather routine procedure. In fact, in some states, notably New York City, bail isn't even always set by a judge. It can actually be set by the police. They have a schedule of what type of bail should be required. And depending upon the assets of the defendant, you can actually post your bail by using a credit card.

Bail is obviously the property that you put in the hands of the government to assure that you will come into the courtroom when your presence is required. And if you fail to come into the courtroom when your presence is required, then the government confiscates that property and arrests you. And the government holds on to that property until the case is over, which could be a couple of weeks or a couple of years. A bond, people often confuse bail and bond. A bond is an insurance policy that you purchase, that the defendant purchases, and the beneficiary of the policy is the incarcerating authority. So if you're being held by the sheriff of Fulton

County, Trump would purchase an insurance policy naming the sheriff of Fulton County, Trump would purchase an insurance policy naming the sheriff of Fulton County, Georgia as the beneficiary of the insurance policy. And then if he fails to show, the insurance company pays the $200,000 to the sheriff and then would go after Trump. This is ridiculous in his case because of his extraordinary wealth, but this is the way bail bonds work. Typically, if you go to a major courthouse in a major city, even a small city, you'll see bail bondsmen's offices around the courthouse. Because if you've been arrested, a loved one will visit you in jail, the prosecutors will give you an indication of what the bail will be, and then your loved one will go out and buy an insurance policy called a bail bond,

naming the government as the beneficiary. What does it cost? It's often a small percentage of the bail. In Trump's case, the bail is $200,000. He can post that by putting $200,000 in cash in the bank account of the sheriff of Fulton County, or he can purchase an insurance policy called a bond, a bail bond that normally costs 10%. You don't get the 10% back. That's the premium you pay for the purchase of the policy. And then the bail bondsman, actually the insurance company that the bail bondsman represents, takes the chance that you will show up. If you don't show up, then the sheriff cashes in on the insurance policy and the bail bondsman goes out and finds you and arrests you himself so that he can try and get his money back and still have business with the insurance company. That, at least in theory, is how these things work. Georgia, like many states, has an automatic 10% program. So if the bail is $200,000, all you have to do is post

$20,000 in cash using a credit card or writing a check that has cleared the bank, and then you're scot-free. We don't know exactly how the former president is going to post the bail. We don't know if he's going to wire $200,000 to the sheriff, if he's going to take advantage of the 10% program, or knowing him as I do, he may shop around and find a bail bond that is cheaper than 10%. But look, the idea of requiring Donald Trump to post bail is absurd. He has whatever you think of him, whether you think he should be president or not, whether you think these indictments are legitimate or not, whether you think he's a fine, honorable human being or not. He has arguably the most or one of the most

recognizable faces and personas in the world. It is almost inconceivable that he would escape the reach of the Georgia court system. But either the judge in this case knows something about the case that we don't know, or is generally suspicious of Trump, or is just ratifying what the parties agreed to. You may remember me explaining how guilty pleas work. The government and the defendant agree on the guilty plea. They come into the courtroom. One type of judge says, I'm only here to resolve disputes. That's my job. If both sides agree there's no dispute, I'm going to ratify the plea agreement. Another type of judge says, no, I'm not a potted plant. If both sides agree there's no dispute, I'm going to ratify the plea agreement. Another type of judge says, no, I'm not a potted plant. If the plea agreement is too easy,

or if it's too harsh, or if it's against public policy, or if the statute that the plea agreement is based on is unconstitutional, I'm not going to ratify the plea agreement. Well, the same attitude exists on the part of judges with respect to bail. Some judges say both parties have consented to the bail. The government only wants $200,000. The defendant is willing to deposit the $200,000 or to deposit 10% or to buy a bond worth $200,000 if he fails to show. I'm going to ratify it. That is apparently what happened here. The judge was not the trial judge in this case. This judge is the judge who happens to be sitting hearing bail applications today. It was an assignment that I once had.

We all rotated through. It's not a desirable assignment because you're almost like a clerk. And sometimes you have to do this two or three hundred times in a day. The police would line these folks up. You feel badly for a person that shouldn't be in jail, but they can't make bail. And then you have to decide what is their, what are their roots in the community? What assets do they have? What criminal record do they have? Do they have a track record of showing up or not showing up? Trump has no roots in the Florida community. He has tremendous roots throughout the United States and the world. He has no history of not showing up. He has no history

of convictions. He does have three other prosecutions, but he's still innocent until proven guilty. So the fact that this judge required $200,000 in bail for Trump, it's $80,000 for the RICO charge. That's the Grand Conspiracy Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization, RICO, RICO. And then $10,000 for each of the other charges. That's how he got the $200,000. The fact that this judge in charge of bails for this county did this tells me that Donald Trump is not going to get any special treatment in this case. He's going to be treated just like any other criminal defendant, which means when he surrenders on Friday, the Secret Service will stand back. He will be handcuffed. He will be photographed. He will be weighed and measured.

I'm rolling my eyes because, as you all know, I know him. He's not going to want his weight published out there, but that's part of the procedure that is used at the time of arraignment. And there'll be a mugshot of him. I'm rolling my eyes again because he can't wait for that mugshot. He's going to make a fortune selling t-shirts with his mugshot on them. All of that will happen on Friday. Now, normally after that, the defendant has to go in the courtroom. For what purpose? To fix bail. and the government will say we want this for bail the defendant's lawyers will say well we can only afford that he's got roots in the community etc so there will be no courtroom procedure uh for the former president

on friday when he surrenders to the sheriff uh to be booked because the bail has already been set there still will be an arraignment but that will be. There still will be an arraignment, but that will be several weeks later. What's an arraignment? An arraignment is a procedure where the defendant is in the courtroom, the government is there, the judge is there. In Trump's case, the press will be there. The defendant is given a copy of the charges against him, and he's asked if he understands him. That's it. Simple. Takes two or three minutes. The same thing happened to him in Mar-a-Lago in Washington, D.C. They allowed him to do this virtually. They didn't require him to come in the courtroom. In New York City,

it was a big uproar because he did have to appear personally, and it caused traffic jams and excitement and the type of hullabaloo you'd expect outside the courthouse. It appears as though that's what will happen in Atlanta this Friday, although, as I said, there will be no courtroom appearance. So Donald Trump enters into a consent agreement with the prosecutor, and the judge has already signed the agreement. The agreement says don't communicate directly or indirectly with witnesses in this case. Don't tell people not to testify. Don't call witnesses by name.

Don't intimidate them harshly, politely, directly, or indirectly. Trump's lawyers, in his behalf, agreed to that. They also agreed to the $200,000. As I said, he can post it by sending it by wiring $200,000 to the sheriff, by wiring $20,000 to the sheriff, or by getting an insurance policy called a bail bond. Now, this leaves some others not nearly as wealthy as Donald Trump in precarious situations. The New York Times is reporting that Rudy Giuliani has no assets at all. His bail will be very similar. We don't have a number yet, and he's going to have to post at

least that 10%. If he can't post it, he goes to jail, to jail at the time of the booking. Not so for Donald Trump. Morris, we get it. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Thanks for watching!