OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Federal Aviation Administration will be closing the airspace over Georgia for a “VIP” on Thursday, an announcement that comes ahead of former President Donald Trump’s expected surrender to Fulton County authorities following his indictment last week.
The FAA “has imposed flight restrictions around the area above the Fulton County Jail, where the former president is due to appear for processing, from 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday,” Newsweek reported.
WTOC reporter Shea Schrader wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the closure is related to “VIP movement.”
Newsweek noted further: “Several of Trump’s co-defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-attorneys for the former president John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, have already surrendered and had gone through the booking process, including having their mugshots taken. Just like the other suspects, Trump will also have his mugshot taken after he surrenders for arrest, the first time he has had a booking photo taken in any of the four criminal investigations the former president has been charged under.”
“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat told members of the media last week after Trump was indicted.
In the Fulton County case, Trump was also subjected to a bond for the first time — $200,000 — by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. Also, the judge cautioned Trump against intimidating potential witnesses or hindering the proper administration of justice.
Furthermore, McAfee issued an injunction preventing Trump from issuing threats against individuals involved in the case via social media.
Trump mocked the imposition of a bond on his Truth Social platform.
“The failed District Attorney of Fulton County (Atlanta), Fani Willis, insisted on a $200,000 Bond from me. I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a ‘flight’ risk—I’d fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir, never to be seen or heard from again,” he wrote.
“Would I be able to take my very ‘understated’ airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I’d be much better off flying commercial—I’m sure nobody would recognize me!”
Along with Trump, 18 others were indicted, including former lawyers, legal advisers, and campaign staff.
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED by a Radical Left District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is overseeing one of the greatest Murder and Violent Crime DISASTERS in American History,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday evening. “In my case, the trip to Atlanta is not for “murder,” but for making a PERFECT PHONE CALL!”
Last week, Willis brought a comprehensive 41-count indictment against Trump and the alleged co-conspirators, claiming that the defendants sought to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election through actions that allegedly violated Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Furthermore, the indictment accuses them of enticing an official to breach their sworn oath of office.
Andrew McCarthy, who once served as the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, said in an opinion piece written for The Messenger that challenging the outcome of an election is not a criminal act and that in order an actual criminal operation must be a constant, never-ending threat.
Though the state’s RICO law allows prosecutors to link various crimes allegedly committed by many defendants, McCarthy wrote in his piece there is “a giant hole” because of “the lack of a clear crime to which Trump and his co-defendants can plausibly be said to have agreed.”
