Donald Trump has become the first former U.S President to have his mugshot taken.
This came as Trump surrendered himself to authorities at Fulton County Jail on Thursday, August 24, 2023, evening, less than a day ahead of his deadline to surrender. He faces criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
The Georgia elction subversion case is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, 2023.
Trump and 18 other co-defendants have been accused by Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters.
All 19 defendants faced a deadline of Friday, August 25, 2023, at noon local time (16:00 GMT) to turn themselves in. The former U.S President is believed to be the twelfth among the defendants to surrender to authorities.
Since Tuesday, other co-defendants have surrendered at the Fulton County jail, including former New York City, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Attorney John Eastman and lawyer Sidney Powell.
Trump was fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken when he surrendered at the Fulton County Jail. His weight was also recorded.
The process took approximately 20 minutes. Afterwards, Trump quickly left in a motorcade waiting outside the jail, having been released on a $200,000 bond agreement, the highest of all his co-defendants.
As he left the Atlanta airport, Trump issued a brief statement to reporters, denying wrongdoing and reiterating that he had the right to challenge his defeat in the 2020 election.
“We have every right, every single right, to challenge an election that we think is dishonest,” Trump said.
He also accused the prosecutors of trying to derail his 2024 bid for the presidency. “What they’re doing is election interference. They’re trying to interfere with an election,” he said.
Ahead of Thursday’s surrender at the jail, Trump’s lawyers argued with Georgia prosecutors over when the trial should begin.
One of Trump’s co-defendants, lawyer Ken Chesebro, filed a motion earlier in the day asking for an October 23 start date, a request a Georgia judge granted.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney prosecuting the case, followed that ruling with her own request to set that date as the start for all 19 defendants.
She had previously suggested beginning the trial in March 2024.
However, Trump’s legal team responded by filing a motion to have his case separated from Chesebro’s, leading to the possibility that multiple trials could take place at separate times.
On his way to the Fulton County Jail, Trump once again attacked Willis on social media for what he considered a politically motivated prosecution.
“Please excuse me, I have to start getting ready to head down to Atlanta, Georgia, where Murder and other Violent Crimes have reached levels never seen before, to get ARRESTED by a Radical Left, Lowlife District Attorney, Fani Willis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump Make First Post On Twitter, Now X Since January 2021
Trump has made his first post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, since being suspended in January 2021.
Twitter banned Donald Trump two days after the January 6 attack, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Elon Musk bought the platform about a year and half later.
Trump’s account was reinstated last November after Elon Musk ran a poll that received more than 15m votes and just narrowly won at nearly 52%. Despite the account being restored, Trump did not tweet until late Thursday.
Musk recently renamed the platform, X.
Trump used his mugshot from the Fulton County Jail to promote his 2024 re-election campaign.
“Never surrender!” he posted with a link to his website, where the mugshot was also featured prominently with an appeal for donations.
Elon Musk reshared Trump’s statement on his X account, noting, “Next-level.”
