Former President Donald Trump has surrendered in Georgia on charges of plotting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
The arrest at Fulton County Jail on Thursday saw Trump’s mug shot being taken, the first ever of a former US president in history.
Trump was booked on 13 charges, including racketeering, conspiracy charges and soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly after 7 p.m. and was driven, through the city’s rush-hour traffic, to jail for the booking process.
Wearing his signature white shirt and red tie, he offered a wave and thumbs up as he descended the steps of his private plane.
Dozens of his supporters gathered on the roads between the Atlanta airport and the Fulton County Jail to cheer on him.
He completed the process in 20 minutes, providing officials as is customary with his physical measurements: 6 foot 3 inches. 215 pounds. Strawberry or blond hair.
The former President was released on a $200,000 bond after about 20 minutes. He soon headed back to the airport for his return flight home to New Jersey. Before boarding the plane back to New Jersey, Trump told reporters, “I did nothing wrong”, stating the criminal case against him as “a travesty of justice.”
“We have every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest,” he said, adding that the other criminal cases pending against him were “election interferences.”
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The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office later released a mug shot of former President Donald Trump, which saw him glaring at the camera. Jail records show Trump was placed under arrest and booked as inmate No. P01135809. This was also the first time his mug shot was taken, as he did not have to submit to a photograph when making appearances in his three other criminal cases.
Interestingly, Trump also made a comeback to X, formerly Twitter soon after the arrest. In his first post since January 2021, Trump shared the address of his website and the mugshot with an all-capital letters caption: “Election interference. Never surrender!”
Besides Trump, 18 others, including his ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have already been booked at Fulton County Jail.
Giuliani surrendered on Wednesday and posed for a mug shot. Meadows, who had sought to avoid having to turn himself in while he sought to move the case to federal court, turned himself in Thursday. The bond was set at $100,000.
All of the defendants have until noon on Friday to surrender. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has also requested an October 23, 2023, trial date.
Meanwhile, ahead of his expected surrender, Trump hired a new lead attorney for the Georgia case. Prominent Atlanta criminal defence attorney Steve Sadow replaced Drew Findling, who had represented Trump as recently as Monday.
Sadow said in a statement that the president should never have been indicted. He is innocent of all the charges brought against him. “We look forward to the case being dismissed or, if necessary, an unbiased, open-minded jury finding the president not guilty,” he added. “Prosecutions intended to advance or serve the ambitions and careers of political opponents of the president have no place in our justice system.
