On Thursday evening, his PAC already started to fundraise off the mug shot with T-shirts. Those who donated $47 or more — the number 47 indicating his possibly being elected the 47th president — got a free shirt with the words “NEVER SURRENDER.” Trump also posted the photo on Truth Social with the words “ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
Trump was booked Thursday at the Fulton County Jail, where he got his fingerprints and mug shot taken. His height was recorded as 6 feet, 3 inches, and his weight as 215 pounds. The photo was released a short while later and instantly drew attention on social media.
Before the mug shot was even released, the term #TrumpMugShot was trending on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, and fake mug shots of Trump circulated on the site.
Trump’s photo is significant because it’s the first time a criminal mug shot has been taken of any U.S. president or former president. It has the potential to show up in history books and across the country on the front pages of newspapers.
A grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others last week on racketeering and other charges after a two-year investigation. All defendants have until Friday to turn themselves in.
Several mug shots from other defendants have already been released including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman and Jenna Ellis.
Mug shots serve several purposes, including identifying and recording a defendant for law enforcement identification. Mug shots, for the most part, show the defendant not smiling, but some politicians have memorably smiled for theirs, making a political statement.
Trump first entered uncharted territory when he became the first former president to face any kind of criminal charges, after being indicted by a New York grand jury in March over his alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign. Since then, Trump has been indicted three more times — two times at the federal level — but has never had his mug shot taken. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all four cases.