ATLANTA, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s mug shot was released on Thursday evening after he was booked at an Atlanta jail on more than a dozen felony charges as part of a wide-ranging criminal case stemming from the former U.S. president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
An unsmiling Trump – inmate no. P01135809, according to Fulton County Jail records – was captured glaring at the camera in the mug shot. The image represented yet another extraordinary moment for Trump, who did not have to submit to a photograph when making appearances in his three other criminal cases.
He wasted little time trying to turn it to his advantage, posting it on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, as well as his own social media site, Truth Social. His campaign website featured the mug shot along with a message from Trump defending his actions and asking for donations.
The X post appeared to be Trump’s first on the site since his account was banned after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. X owner Elon Musk reinstated Trump’s account late last year.
Trump spent only about 20 minutes at the jail before heading back to his New Jersey golf club. Before boarding his private plane at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, he repeated his claim that the prosecution – along with the others he faces – is politically motivated.
“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” he told reporters. “I did nothing wrong, and everybody knows it.”
Trump, 77, already has entered uncharted territory as the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, even as he mounts another campaign for the White House next year.