Former U.S. President Trump Turns Self In At County Jail, Released On Bond After Mugshot Taken

Former US president Donald Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County jail in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, as he faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

The billionaire-turned-politician was booked, arrested, and then quickly released thanks to a bail agreement secured earlier by his lawyers.

Trump has agreed to a $200,000 bond as well as other conditions, including not using social media to target co-defendants and witnesses in the case, according to AP News.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, released the former president’s mugshot, AP reports, adding that the booking photo instantly becomes part of the former president’s legacy as he confronts criminal charges in four American cities while seeking to reclaim the White House.

According to the news agency, his aides swiftly seized on the image, fundraising off the first mug shot in American history of a former president as representative of the persecution they contend Trump is encountering. His opponents, meanwhile, are likely to use it to remind voters of dangers in electing a president facing dozens of felony charges.

Trump was released on $200,000 bond and headed back to the airport for his return flight home to New Jersey, flashing a thumbs-up through the window of his sport utility vehicle as his motorcade left. Unrepentant but subdued after the brief jail visit, he again insisted that he “did nothing wrong” and called the case accusing him of subverting election results a “travesty of justice.”

“If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election,” he told reporters on the airport tarmac.

Trump’s surrender to law enforcement authorities, the fourth time this year, has by now become a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president, and current candidate, being booked on criminal charges. But his visit to Atlanta was notably different from the three past surrenders, unfolding at night and requiring him to visit a problem-plagued jail — rather than a courthouse.

And unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, a booking photo of him was taken. It depicts Trump, wearing a navy suit and red tie, angrily scowling at the camera, his brows furrowed as he stares into the lens.

Before Trump’s plane had crossed North Carolina, his campaign was already using the image to solicit contributions on a fundraising site.

And for the first time since Jan. 8, 2021, he made a post on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, issuing a fundraising plea on the platform that prevented him from using his account after he helped spark the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“This mugshot will forever go down in history as a symbol of America’s defiance of tyranny,” said a Trump campaign fundraising email.

He also called into conservative TV channel Newsmax to talk about what he said had been “a very sad day for our country,.”