No, Trump would not automatically go to jail if he violates his bond order

Former President Donald Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday, Aug. 24.

Trump is facing more than a dozen charges in Georgia, including a violation of the state’s RICO Act, over his alleged efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 general election results.

Before Trump turned himself in on Thursday, a judge approved setting his bond at $200,000. The bond agreement also included several conditions, one of which ordered Trump not to intimidate co-defendants or witnesses in the case in “posts on social media.”

Since Trump frequently voices his displeasure with criminal charges against him and Fulton County prosecutors on social media, some people online have speculated that Trump will go to jail if he violates the bond conditions.

THE QUESTION

Will Trump automatically go to jail if he violates his bond order in Georgia?

THE SOURCES

• Georgia State Code 
• Rachel Kaufman Law, a Georgia-based law firm
• Nicholas Creel, assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University
• United States Secret Service

THE ANSWER

No, Trump would not automatically go to jail if he violates his bond order in Georgia. The judge has multiple options beyond placing a defendant in jail, including increasing the bond amount, issuing fines or modifying the bond conditions. 

WHAT WE FOUND

Courts are allowed to impose additional bond conditions, such as those in Trump’s case, to “ensure the safety of witnesses and the community,” Georgia-based law firm Rachel Kaufman says on its website.

If a prosecuting attorney believes a defendant has violated those conditions, they can ask a judge to revoke the bond and order the person to be held in jail, according to the law firm. In Trump’s case, that prosecutor would be Fulton County District Attorney Fannis Willis.

A judge would then consider evidence during a court hearing and decide whether the defendant has violated the conditions of their bond. 

But that does not mean Trump would automatically go to jail if he violates the terms of his bond agreement.

Georgia state law gives judges discretion in deciding the appropriate punishment if they think someone has violated their bond conditions. State law does not require the judge to order a person to be held in jail before their trial.

In Trump’s case, a judge would be more likely to increase his bond amount, issue fines or modify his bond conditions before sending him to jail, Nicholas Creel, an assistant law professor at Georgia College and State University, told VERIFY. 

“There’s almost no realistic scenario [where] Donald Trump is going to be put in pretrial detention for anything less than an extraordinarily egregious violation of his bond,” Creel said.

That has to do in large part with the logistical difficulties of holding Trump in jail. Federal law requires former presidents to receive Secret Service protection for life, even if they are behind bars.

“If he does get put in jail, he’s going to have to have Secret Service agents there with him protecting him at all times,” Creel said. “They’re going to have to take security protocols that are not normal for normal prisoners, to such a degree that it really just does not seem realistic that they could put him in a facility like the Fulton County Jail.”