Eastman agrees to $100K bond in Georgia election case

John Eastman became the first of former President Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the recent Georgia indictment to reach a bond agreement, court filings show.

A judge on Monday signed off on the pretrial release conditions for Eastman, a Trump-allied lawyer involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, before doing the same for Trump and at least three other co-defendants later in the day.

Eastman agreed to a $100,000 bond, an amount tied to the charges he faces, according to court filings. Other defendants agreed to bonds of $10,000, $50,000 and $100,000.

The agreements, known as consent bond orders, also require them not to communicate with any person they know to be a co-defendant or witness in the case, except through their attorneys.

Trump’s bond was set at $200,000 and included stricter rules.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) charged Trump and 18 others last week in a 41-count racketeering indictment stemming from alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state.

It marked the fourth indictment facing the former president, who has denied wrongdoing.

Willis has set a deadline of noon Friday for all of the defendants, which include many Trump attorneys and allies, to surrender.

Eastman, who helped engineer the legal strategy that led Trump to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to toss out valid electors on Jan. 6, faces nine counts. Eastman’s attorney previously called the indictment unconstitutional and said “lawyers everywhere should be sleepless.” 

Kenneth Chesebro, another attorney involved in the strategy, also agreed to a $100,000 bond. Ray Smith, a Georgia-based Trump attorney after the 2020 election, agreed to a $50,000 bond.

Scott Hall, whose bond was set at $10,000, faces seven counts over alleged involvement with a breach at an elections office in Coffee County, Ga.

Updated 5:06 p.m.