Donald Trump has surrendered in Georgia on charges of plotting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results in an arrest that saw the first-ever mugshot of a former US president.
It was his fourth arrest in five months in a criminal case, but this was his first police booking photo. Trump had to pay a bail bond of two hundred thousand dollars to be released from the Atlanta jail while he awaits trial.
Afterward, he described the case as “a travesty of justice.”
Trump later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time since January 2021. He shared the address of his website and the mugshot with an all-capital letters caption: “Election interference. Never surrender!”
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Why the need for a Trump mugshot?
CNN posed the question of why a mugshot of the former President was needed. After all, the news outlet says, Trump is recognizable to the whole world. It’s not like he’s suddenly going to disappear.
“The official explanation for the photo seems to be that Trump, despite his former power and fame, should be treated under the law just like anyone else.
“If a man who once had the power to destroy the world with a nuclear arsenal gets a mug shot just like any other alleged criminal in Georgia, then justice really is equal for all,” CNN notes.
Trump argues the cases against him are politically motivated because he is leading the Republican race to challenge President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in next year’s presidential election.
The first former or serving US president ever to be indicted, he made the round trip from New Jersey on his private jet on Thursday afternoon.
Trump was whisked to Fulton County Jail by a more substantial motorcade than he has used for previous court appearances this year. He was inside the facility for around twenty minutes. Dozens of his supporters gathered outside.
Records posted on the jail’s website described Trump as a white male, 6ft 3in, and weighing 215lbs (97kg), with blond or strawberry hair and blue eyes. His inmate number was P01135809.
Trump charged with meddling in Georgia’s election results
Before heading home, he told reporters at the airport that he was entitled to challenge the result of a vote.
“I thought the election was a rigged election, a stolen election,” said Trump, who often makes unfounded claims of widespread ballot fraud in 2020. “And I should have every right to do that.”
“As you know, you have many people that you’ve been watching over the years do the same thing,” he added, “whether it’s Hillary Clinton or [former candidate for Georgia governor] Stacey Abrams, or many others.”
Trump was charged last week alongside eighteen co-defendants with meddling in Georgia’s election results following his loss to Joe Biden by fewer than twelve thousand votes in that state.
The former President was heard in a phone call pressuring Georgia’s top election official to “find 11,780 votes” during the ballot count.
Among the thirteen charges Trump faces are racketeering, soliciting a public official to violate his oath of office, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery, and making false statements.
He denies all counts against him.
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