The former US president surrendered at a jail in Georgia on Thursday, more than a week after he was indicted on conspiracy and racketeering charges.
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The former president was seen waving to onlookers as he got off his plane and headed to the Fulton County Jail via motorcade.
Officers armed with assault rifles surrounded the jail as Trump approached in a line of black cars.
He was escorted inside and spent only 20 minutes at the jail before being released on a $200,000 bond.
A mugshot of the 77-year-old, wearing a navy suit and red tie and scowling at the camera, was later released, the first-ever booking photo of a former US president.
His inmate sheet detailing the 13 charges against him was also quickly posted to the jail website.
It listed him as 6 foot 3 inches tall and 215 pounds with blue eyes and blonde or strawberry blonde hair.
HISTORIC MOMENT
The streets outside the jail were crowded with both protesters celebrating his arrest and supporters who opposed it.
Swaths of his admirers cheered on the former president with calls to “lock up” District Attorney Fani Willis.
Among the crowd was Georgia Representative Majorie Taylor Greene, who smiled and waved at her constituents.
“Tonight, I joined hundreds of Patriots at the Fulton County Jail to support President Trump during his persecution by Communist Atlanta DA Fani Willis,” she wrote on X.
“I will never stop supporting President Trump and I will vote for him from jail if I have to!”
As Trump left the Fulton County Jail, deputies responded to a bomb threat at the county courthouse located roughly five miles from where the former president was booked.
The sheriff’s office investigated and determined there was no item of concern at the facility.
DEFIANT TRUMP
Before boarding his plane to leave the city, Trump made a brief statement to media staked out on the runway.
“We did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong,” Trump said.
“This is election interference. So I want to thank you for being here. We did nothing wrong.
“We had every right, every single right, to challenge an election we think was dishonest.”
Trump was quick to circulate his mugshot, posting it on Truth Social alongside the message: “Election interference. Never surrender!”
The booking photo was also shared to Trump’s X account in the first post on the page since he was banned from the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in 2021.
His campaign has already started using the mugshot for fundraising, writing: “This mugshot will forever go down in history as a symbol of America’s defiance of tyranny.”
“They insisted on a mugshot and I agreed to do that,” Trump later told Fox News Digital.
“This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mugshot.
“It is not a comfortable feeling—especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
RAFT OF ALLEGATIONS
Trump faces a series of allegations, including several conspiracy charges, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, filing false documents, and violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) law.
Georgia was one of the key states that Trump lost in the 2020 election.
The Republican, who is currently the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination ahead of the 2024 election, vehemently denies the allegations.
Trump had until noon on August 25 to voluntarily surrender at a Fulton County jail under the terms of the indictment.
As part of the booking process, defendants are fingerprinted and have their mugshot taken, and the Fulton County Sheriff said Trump would be treated like any other defendant.
The FAA has issued a temporary flight restriction for the airspace around the Fulton County Jail between 6.45pm and 9pm local time for a so-called VIP moment.
Before his booking, balaclava-clad cops were seen guarding the jail as pro and anti-Trump demonstrators gathered near the entrance.
The brash Republican turned himself in a day after his former attorney Rudy Giuliani surrendered to cops.
After surrendering, Giuliani told reporters: “I am very honored to be involved in this case, because this case is a fight for our way of life,” as he branded the indictment a “travesty.”
Trump’s surrender came a day after his rivals for the Republican nomination, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy, locked horns at the first GOP debate.
DeSantis and Ramaswamy were among the GOP politicians who raised their hands when asked if they would support Trump if he was convicted and won the Republican nomination.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also raised their hands.
It remains unknown when Trump will face trial over these allegations.
Last week, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis proposed a potential trial date of March 4, 2024, but reports suggest she has filed a second suggestion to the judge.
Willis told a judge that the trial should instead start on October 23, Bloomberg reports.
An October 23 start date would come just months before the first Republican Caucus in Iowa, which falls on January 15.
Nineteen defendants have been named in the indictment, including the lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
Ellis beamed as she had her mugshot taken at the Fulton County Jail and former Georgia State Senator David Shafer proudly put his mugshot as his profile picture on X, formerly Twitter.
The Georgia indictment is on state charges, meaning Trump will not be able to pardon himself if convicted and if he wins the 2024 election.
A Trump-friendly governor would also not have the power to pardon him.
In Georgia, pardons are issued by a five-member panel known as the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.
‘PHONY’
Trump slammed Willis, branding her a “phony” before the latest indictment was issued.
He wrote on his Truth Social feed: “Would someone please tell the Fulton County grand jury that I did not tamper with the election?
“The people that tampered with it were the ones that rigged it, and sadly, phoney [sic] Fani Willis, who has shockingly allowed Atlanta to become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world, has no interest in seeing the massive amount of evidence available, or finding out who these people that committed this crime are.
“She only wants to ‘Get Trump.’ I would be happy to show this info to the G.J.”
Trump has accused Willis of being “out of control” and said the charges were part of a “witch hunt.”
INDICTMENTS MOUNT
The brash tycoon faces three other indictments in New York City, Miami, and Washington, DC.
The wave of indictments against the former president began in March when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed 34 felony charges against Trump for what prosecutors described as a hush-money scheme.
Prosecutors said Trump and his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign to silence claims of an affair.
The case also reportedly includes claims of separate payments to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump allegedly played a role in paying $150,000 to McDougal, who claimed that she began a 10-month relationship with the former president in 2006, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The former US president also allegedly paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 to silence his claims that Trump had a “child out of wedlock.”
Trump is also facing charges in a separate case in Miami brought by special counsel Jack Smith, where he’s accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.
He has been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing a document in a federal probe, withholding a document or record, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a document or record, scheme to conceal, and two counts of false statements and representations.
The FBI executed a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August last year.
Federal officials found more than 80 boxes of classified documents in Trump’s estate, including six with the highest level of classification in his office, according to court records.
Earlier this month, Trump was charged over his alleged involvement in the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He was charged with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building in an attempt to prevent Congress from counting the electoral votes to confirm President-elect Biden as the new president.
The rally turned violent when the MAGA mob breached Capitol Hill, smashing through windows, doors and clashing with Capitol police officers.
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