Former President Donald Trump is back on X (fka Twitter) after his account had been suspended following the infamous January 6th insurrection and then reinstated by the platform’s new owner Elon Musk.

His first post back: his mug shot.

Trump found himself booked at Fulton County Jail on Thursday night as inmate P01135809, facing state charges linked to an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. This high-profile development marks a significant turn in the ongoing legal battles surrounding the election aftermath.

Trump underwent the standard booking procedures, including fingerprinting, resulting in the photograph of a mugshot. The release of this booking photo, commonly referred to as a mugshot, has garnered widespread attention.

Notably, this is the first instance where such an image of the former president has been taken. The event that comes closest in historical comparison occurred in 1872 when President Ulysses S. Grant was apprehended for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage in Washington, D.C. He was escorted to a nearby police station, although no photographic record of the incident was captured in the form of a mug shot.

In the mug shot, Trump meets the camera’s gaze head-on. The intense jailhouse lighting accentuates his platinum blonde hair, evoking the image of cotton candy wisps. His eyes are fixed in a stern, unyielding stare, while his lips form a pressed, grim expression. In contrast to certain co-defendants who sport smiles, Trump’s countenance seems to bear a scowl.

Trump faces an array of 13 distinct charges in Georgia. Among these charges are counts related to racketeering, fraud, and false statements. This legal action represents a considerable escalation in the legal pressure against him. Trump, along with his 18 co-defendants, had until Friday to comply with the directive to present themselves to the authorities.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax shortly after his booking, former President Donald Trump expressed a degree of sympathy for his co-defendants ensnared in the Georgia elections case.

“Those people that have been so unfairly dragged into this, these are high-quality people who don’t even know why they were brought in,” Trump said after he was booked in a Georgia county jail. “Those people have to be released. They have to be released from this horrible thing that they’re going through.”

The charges against Trump and his co-defendants stem from a wide-ranging Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) indictment. This indictment accuses the defendants of a concerted effort to manipulate and nullify the outcomes of the 2020 Georgia presidential election.

Addressing questions about the cohesiveness of the group, Trump evaded inquiries about whether he perceives his co-defendants as a collective entity.

It’s worth noting that despite Trump’s billionaire status, he has not signaled any intention to financially support the legal defense costs incurred by his co-defendants in Georgia. This aspect has raised eyebrows, considering the financial disparities among the individuals implicated in the case.

Recently, Georgia law enforcement officials revealed they are investigating threats made against members of the grand jury that indicted Trump and 18 of his associates. The investigation comes in response to the publication of personal information, including images and addresses, of the 23 jurors and three alternates on various “fringe” websites, some of which have connections to right-wing conspiracy theories.

The indictment in Georgie marks the fourth one this year for the former president, further intensifying his legal challenges as the 2024 election looms. He’s the first US president to be indicted at this rate in the history of the country.

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