Donald Trump Jokes About Being a Flight Risk

Former President Donald Trump joked about fleeing the country to "share a gold domed suite" with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a $200,000 bond was set in Fulton County, Georgia.

Trump announced on Monday that he would travel to Georgia on Thursday to be arrested and arraigned on felony charges. The former president is facing 13 counts, accused of attempting to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in the Peach State.

Earlier in the day, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set Trump's bond at $200,000 and ordered conditions for his release that included a stipulation that he "shall perform no act to intimidate" potential witnesses or any of his 18 co-defendants.

Trump commented on the bond in a Truth Social post on Monday night, mocking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for potentially considering him a "flight risk" while pointing out that he would have little chance of leaving the country and remaining inconspicuous.

"The failed District Attorney of Fulton County (Atlanta), Fani Willis, insisted on a $200,000 Bond from me," Trump wrote. "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."

"Would I be able to take my very 'understated' airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see," he added. "Probably not, I'd be much better off flying commercial - I'm sure nobody would recognize me!"

Newsweek reached out for comment to the office of Willis via email on Monday night.

In addition to the 13 charges in Georgia, the former president is facing 78 other felonies across three additional indictments, including two at the federal level and one in New York state.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges on which he has been arraigned, insisting he's the victim of political "persecution" and "election interference" as he seeks to regain the presidency in 2024.

The Department of Justice said in June that Trump was not considered a flight risk while setting the conditions of his release following his arraignment on federal charges related to his post-presidency handling of classified documents.

Last week, MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan suggested that it was time "to start having a discussion" about whether Trump was actually a flight risk due to the "hardcore" nature of the charges against him.

Hasan cited comments made by the former president earlier this month, when he told a crowd of supporters that he would rather be "in the south of France" than "this country frankly."

While Trump could attempt to escape his legal troubles by living in exile, the likelihood of the former president escaping undetected is very low due to both his global fame and the fact that he travels with a Secret Service security detail at all times.

Shortly before Trump faced his first criminal indictment in New York in March, an edited image of Trump Force One, a Boeing 757, appeared online alongside a false claim that the private jet had been "impounded" by authorities concerned that the ex-president would flee.