Former President Donald Trump leaves Atlanta after surrender

A plane carrying former President Donald Trump departed around 8:40 p.m. from Atlanta’s Hartfield-Jackson International Airport.

Before boarding the plane, Trump spoke briefly to reporters but did not take questions.

“This is a very sad day for America,” Trump said. “I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election. What has taken place here was a travesty of justice. What they’re doing is election interference. There’s never been anything like it in our country before....We did nothing wrong at all. We have every right, every single right, to challenge an election we think is dishonest.”

Trump was booked around 7:30 p.m. to the Fulton County Jail and released shortly after on a $200,000 bond

He arrived in Atlanta around 6:40 p.m. on a flight from Newark.

He is being charged with violation of the State’s RICO act, conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, filing false documents, conspiracy to commit filing false documents, two counts each of false statements and writings, conspiracy to commit false statements and writings, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree and three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

While still president, Trump had a handful of phone calls with Georgia officials in late 2020 and early 2021, pressing them to find ways to reverse Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia and hand him the state’s 16 electoral votes. He was also allegedly involved in discussions about appointing a slate of fake GOP electors in swing states and pushed numerous false conspiracy theories.