Former US president Donald Trump was arrested at a Georgia jail on Thursday on racketeering and conspiracy charges and released on a US$200,000 bond after having a mug shot taken.
Trump, who is accused of colluding with 18 other defendants to overturn the 2020 election result in the southern state, spent less than 30 minutes inside Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail before leaving in a motorcade for the airport.
Like the other defendants in the case who have surrendered so far, the 77-year-old Trump had his mug shot taken during the booking process — a first for any serving or former US president.
Photo: AFP / FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
In the photograph released by the sheriff’s office, he scowled at the camera while dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie.
Speaking to reporters after his arrest, Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, said it was a “very sad day for America.”
“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” he said. “I did nothing wrong.”
Photo: AFP
Trump posted the mug shot on his own Truth Social platform with the caption “Election Interference” and a link to his campaign Web site.
A short while later, he also posted it on X — formerly Twitter — which was Trump’s favorite bullhorn until he was banned from it after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the US Capitol.
X owner Elon Musk reinstated Trump in November last year, but Trump stayed away and posted instead on Truth Social. This was Trump’s first post since 2021 on what had been Twitter.
Trump was given the inmate number “PO1135809” by the Fulton County Jail, which listed his height as 6 foot, 3 inches (1.9m), his weight as 215 pounds (97kg) and his hair color as “blond or strawberry.”
A tight security perimeter was set up for Trump’s booking at the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable conditions.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed the sweeping racketeering case, had set a deadline of noon yesterday for Trump and the other 18 defendants to surrender.
Trump and 11 others have turned themselves in so far.
A few dozen supporters of the former president gathered outside the jail, including Sharon Anderson who spent the night in her car.
“I think this is a political persecution and now that’s turned into a political prosecution,” Anderson told reporters.
Trump is the first former or sitting US president in history to face criminal charges.
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