Mr Trump’s private plane landed at 7.03pm on Thursday at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport where his motorcade drove to the Fulton County Jail.

Among his supporters outside the jail was Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his most prominent backers in Congress.

Mr Trump, 77, already has entered uncharted territory as the first former president to face criminal charges, although the four cases filed against him have not damaged his front-runner status in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election.

At least 10 of his co-defendants already have been booked. Some, like Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor, were stone-faced in their mug shots, while others, such as lawyer Jenna Ellis, smiled for the camera.

All 19 defendants face a Friday deadline to surrender. Court records showed that Mark Meadows, who served as Mr Trump’s White House chief of staff, was processed at the jail on Thursday.

Mr Trump faces 13 felony counts in the Georgia case, including racketeering, which is typically used to target organised crime, for pressuring state officials to reverse his election loss and setting up an illegitimate slate of electors to undermine the formal congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 victory.

Willis originally proposed a trial date of March 4 but moved it up for Chesebro after he asked that his trial start by October. Trump’s legal team has not yet proposed a date but is expected to push for a much later start. On Thursday, his newest Atlanta lawyer, Steven Sadow, asked for Trump to be tried separately from Chesebro.

Trump is due to enter a plea on September 5 after pleading not guilty in the three other cases. He has denied wrongdoing and has called all the cases politically motivated.

In addition to New York state charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Trump faces two sets of federal charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith – one case in Washington involving election interference and one in Miami involving classified documents he retained after leaving office in 2021. He faces 91 criminal counts in total.

Trump has agreed to post $US200,000 ($A312,000 bond and accepted bail conditions that would bar him from threatening witnesses or his co-defendants in the Georgia case.

About a dozen Trump supporters, some holding flags, gathered outside the jail awaiting his arrival.

“I’m here because I’m appalled at what’s happening,” said Bob Kunst, 81, a retiree who said he had driven from Miami Beach and stood outside the jailhouse with a homemade sign that read “Lock Biden Up.”

On Wednesday, Trump’s leading rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination met in Milwaukee for their first debate. Trump skipped that event, instead sitting for a pre-taped interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson aimed at siphoning away viewers.

“I’ve been indicted four times – all trivial nonsense,” Trump told Carlson.