Donald Trump's mug shot made public after surrender at Atlanta jail

Erik Larson and Zoe Tillman

Donald Trump’s mug shot was made public after he surrendered to an Atlanta jail on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election — a polarizing image of the former president as he seeks to return to the White House in 2024, which prompted his return to the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The photograph at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday marks the first time Trump has been forced to have his mug shot taken. In three earlier criminal cases against him this year — in New York, Florida and Washington — authorities skipped the procedure because it wasn’t deemed necessary.

In the photo, Trump casts a stern look in the direction of the camera. All of the other defendants in the case that have been booked, including Rudy Giuliani, have had their mug shots taken. 

Trump is already using the image to capitalize on his claim that all the cases are part of a “witch hunt” to undermine his campaign to return to the White House in 2024. For months he’s been selling collectible mugs on his campaign website featuring a fake mug shot of himself and the words “not guilty.”

He posted the mug shot on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, returning to the platform for the first time since Jan. 8, 2021. He was banned from Twitter that month, following the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by his supporters. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he allowed the former president back on in November, although Trump hasn’t used the platform until Thursday.

Trump wrote “NEVER SURRENDER” under the photo and provided a link to a fundraising website. Earlier he posted the photo on his own social media site Truth Social.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators on Aug. 14, alleging they violated Georgia’s racketeering law by joining a criminal enterprise to keep Trump in office after he lost the election.

Patrick “Pat” Labat, the sheriff in Fulton County, had said in an earlier press conference that Trump wouldn’t get special treatment and that he was prepared to take his mug shot “unless someone tells me differently.” 

Law enforcement agencies typically take photos of newly charged defendants to have on file for identification by victims or to help track down perpetrators if they flee. Such measures haven’t been deemed necessary for one of the most recognizable people in the world, until now.