Rudy Giuliani arrest: Former Trump lawyer surrenders on Georgia charges tied to 2020 election

NEW YORK CITY — Rudy Giuliani surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Wednesday on charges alleging he acted as former President Donald Trump’s chief co-conspirator in a plot to subvert the 2020 election.

The former New York City mayor, celebrated as “America’s mayor” for his leadership after 9/11, is charged with Trump and 17 other people under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. His bond has been set at $150,000, second only to Trump’s $200,000

Jail records showed he was booked Wednesday afternoon.

Giuliani, 79, is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia and other closely contested states to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint electoral college electors favorable to Trump.

As he left for the airport Wednesday morning, he delivered some remarks to reporters outside of his Upper East Side home.

Watch: Giuliani’s full remarks:

“Well I’m going to Georgia and 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 the U.S. attorney,” he said. “People like to say I’m different; I’m the same Rudy Giuliani who shook down the mafia and made New York City the safest city in America.”

He remained steadfast in his defense of former President Trump.

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“I’m fighting for justice from the first moment I represented Donald Trump, an innocent man, who has now been proven innocent several times. I don’t know how many times he has to be proven innocent, and they have to be proven to be liars, actually enemies of our republic who are destroying rights, sacred rights,” Giuliani said.

Lawyers for the former mayor met with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office early Wednesday to finalize a bond package before the surrender, the sources told ABC News.

They said Giuliani has secured local counsel but is expected to be joined by his longtime friend and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik who is assisting him through the process.

“And I get photographed. Isn’t that nice? A mugshot for the man who probably put the worst criminals of the 20th century in jail,” Giuliani said. “They’re going to degrade themselves by doing a mugshot of me. Like people will recognize me. And of course, they’ll fingerprint me, but I’ve been fingerprinted 150 times. This will turnout exactly like the FBI search turned out. They’re lying. I’m telling the truth.”

The development comes after former President Donald Trump said he would surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday.

“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” Trump wrote on his social media network Monday night, hours after court papers said his bond was set at $200,000.

Giuliani – feted, knighted and named Time magazine’s person of the year for his leadership as New York City mayor after the 2001 terrorist attack – has seen his reputation eviscerated and now his liberty imperiled for his steadfast defense of former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.

Giuliani, Trump and 17 other people were charged under Georgia’s version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The law, known as RICO, was once one of Giuliani’s favorite tools when he was cracking down on mobsters and Wall Street titans as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor in the 1980s. Now, as he nears 80, it could put him behind bars.

Giuliani called the indictment “an affront to American democracy” and said it “does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.