A legal spokeswoman for Donald Trump argued Fulton County authorities did not need to take the former president’s mugshot and suggested the image was a “trophy” for District Attorney Fani Willis.
“They didn’t need the mugshot. It was, I guess to her, probably a trophy, but thank you, because now the trophy actually became ours,” Alina Habba said of Willis during an interview with Newsmax on Friday. “She wanted to get it done. We obviously had told her that no other jurisdiction required it, he is the single most famous man on the planet.”
Trump surrendered to authorities in Fulton County, Ga., on Thursday on felony charges related to his and his allies’ alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the Peach State.
While Thursday’s arrest was Trump’s fourth in four months, he had not previously had a mug shot taken. The former president is facing 13 felony charges, including conspiracy to commit forgery, filing false documents, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, and violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
“They insisted on a mug shot, and I agreed to do that,” Trump told Fox News. “This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mug shot.”
Trump returned to the social-media platform X on Thursday night with an image of his mug shot captioned: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE. NEVER SURRENDER!” Trump hadn’t posted to the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter, since January 8, 2021, when he was banned over his postings about the Capitol riot. In November 2022, Elon Musk chose to reverse the indefinite suspension after taking control of the platform.
The post on X leads to the former president’s website, which reads: “At the notoriously violent jail in Fulton County, Georgia, I was ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME.”
Trump’s campaign began selling merchandise with the phrase “NEVER SURRENDER!” soon after.
The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., began selling T-shirt that said “FREE TRUMP” alongside the mugshot. Proceeds from the shirt are to go toward a “Legal Defense Fund” for the elder Trump.
Free Trump Merch! To be clear all profits from this on my Web Store are going to be donated to the Legal Defense Fund to fight the tyranny & insanity we’re seeing before us. Unlike many, I won’t try to profit from this but will do what I can to help. https://t.co/qUQDGg2wAB pic.twitter.com/dm6wL3Mf29
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 25, 2023
Other Trump allies, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) have created their own photoshopped mugshots to show solidarity.
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame announced it will sell a Trump mugshot bobblehead.
President Biden reacted to Trump’s mug shot on Friday, calling the former president a “handsome guy.”
Asked about the mug shot while leaving a Pilates studio during his vacation in Lake Tahoe, Calif., Biden said: “I did see it on television. Handsome guy. Wonderful guy.”