Donald Trump’s mugshot goes down in history

The former president surrendering himself to authorities on charges of seeking to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia.

Donald Trump has his mug shot taken at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump made history on Thursday night (Friday AEST) in an Atlanta jail after the former president surrendered himself to authorities on charges of seeking to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia, eliciting an extraordinary first – a presidential mug shot – that will come to define the 45th president’s place in American history as a martyr or criminal.

The image of Mr Trump, in his trademark red tie and navy suit, his gaze intense and defiant, immediately went viral on social media, as supporters and opponents of the former president – who remains the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination – seized on the image as evidence of ­persecution or guilt.

The extraordinary events followed the former president’s indictment earlier this month on racketeering and conspiracy charges by Fulton County District ­Attorney Fani Willis along with 18 co-conspirators, including former New York mayor and Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani and his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

The 45th president alighted his trademark Trump Force One plane at 7.15pm for the short drive in his motorcade to Fulton County Jail, where he could ultimately face at least five years in prison if he is convicted by a jury in a trial that could begin as soon as October.

“I did nothing wrong,” Mr Trump, who was given inmate number PO1135809, told reporters at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport before boarding his flight back to New Jersey, declaring his arrest to be “a travesty of justice”.

“This is a very sad day for America … You should be able to challenge an election. I should have the right to do this. We have seen many people over the years do the same thing.”

Mr Trump was able to dodge having a mug shot taken during his previous arrests this year.

His arrest came one day after he spurned a televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 nomination – all of whom lag well behind him in the polls.

Mr Trump, who posted a picture of his mug shot on X, his first use of the platform previously known as Twitter since early 2021, sought to capitalise on the arrest, his campaign team firing off fundraising emails to supporters, including the sale of a $US47 T-shirt featuring the mug shot. “This mugshot will forever go down in history as a symbol of America’s defiance of tyranny,” one read.

The Trump motorcade arrives at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail on Thursday. Picture: AFP

The mug shot is bound to ­become an iconic symbol of the 2024 presidential election campaign, in which Mr Trump, far ahead of his GOP rivals four months out from the beginning of primaries in January, is almost certain to be the nominee before ultimately facing off with Mr Biden in a polarising rematch of the 2020 election in November.

Democrats widely see Mr Trump’s humiliation as deserved justice following his refusal to ­acknowledge Mr Biden as the winner of the 2020 election despite unsuccessful claims of voter fraud, while Republicans cast the indictments as politically motivated election interference.

Earlier in the day, Republican congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, launched a probe into Ms Wills’s alleged potential interaction with Democrat prosecutors in New York and Washington.

“The circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated,” said a letter from the committee’s leader to Ms Wills, suggesting the indictment was “an attempt to use state criminal law to regulate the conduct of federal officers”.

The surrender was largely procedural, and Mr Trump, 77, along with other defendants in the case, was released on a $US200,000 bond with certain conditions, which included not communicating with co-defendants or intimidating witnesses.

Jail records released later listed Mr Trump’s hair as “Blond or Strawberry,” his height at 1.9m, and his weight at 97kg.

On Thursday morning, many Trump supporters rallied outside the main gate to the Fulton County Jail. Many carried large Trump flags and wore Make America Great Again shirts and hats, milling about amid a throng of media. Chants of “Trump” hung in the air. A bus, with an American flag and “Trump 2024” on the side of it, honked as it passed by.

Sheriff’s deputies were out in force, standing at barricades at the jail entrance and patrolling the neighbourhood around the jail complex northwest of downtown.

The Georgia indictment was Mr Trump’s fourth in less than five months, following separate and equally controversial state and federal indictments in Manhattan and Washington over hush money payments made to a former porn star, the removal of classified documents, and a similar set of federal charges related to his behaviour surrounding his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“The president should never have been indicted. He is innocent of all the charges brought against him,” said one of his lawyers in ­Atlanta, Steven Sadow, who has represented entertainers including the singer Usher.

“We look forward to the case being dismissed or, if necessary, an unbiased, open-minded jury finding the president not guilty.”

Ms Willis, who brought the indictment after 2½ years of investigations, earlier requested an October 23 trial date for the 19 defendants, following a request for a speedy trial by Kenneth Chesebro, a former Trump campaign adviser.

The complexity of the Georgia ­allegations, revolving around racketeering laws usually used to catch mob bosses, and the number of defendants, will ensure weeks and months of negotiations among lawyers as to when and how the 19 co-defendants are ultimately tried