After all manner of hand-wringing, consternation and discussion, it’s finally happened.
Former President Donald Trump turned himself into the Fulton Country Jail in Atlanta on Thursday and thus produced one of the most eagerly anticipated mugshots in American history:
TRUMP’S MUGSHOT HAS BEEN RELEASED ??? pic.twitter.com/1CaXyNgLpT
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 25, 2023
The shocking photo came less than 24 hours after Wednesday’s inaugural 2024 Republican primary debate, which Trump skipped, citing his commanding lead in the GOP polls.
The mugshot of a former U.S. president is both jarring and historic, being the first of its kind.
It also has brought up plenty of concern from political pundits who have noted that incumbent President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice is locking up his chief political rival — the sort of scene typically reserved for full-blown banana republics and/or dictatorships.
But while Trump might win the GOP race and then take the White House from Biden following the November 2024 general election, for now, the former president has been booked and processed in Fulton County and has his own issues to work through.
Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail as part of the fourth indictment levied against the former president this year.
This indictment focuses on Trump’s purported role in the “criminal enterprise” that allegedly sought to overturn Georgia’s results in the 2020 presidential election. Biden won the state by fewer than 12,000 votes.
The 41-count indictment against Trump and his 18 associates includes 13 charges specifically targeting the former president.
A number of the other listed defendants — including Trump’s old legal team of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell — turned themselves in this week and had their mugshots published.
NEW: booking photos for Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani have been released.
Donald Trump is expected to surrender Thursday evening, and the deadline for the rest is noon Friday. pic.twitter.com/0HpdkrWBY0
— stephen fowler (@stphnfwlr) August 23, 2023
And now Trump’s photo will join them as the bizarre mosaic of Republican mug shots continues to be assembled.
In addition to the Fulton County legal issues, the former president is facing three additional indictments.
In March, Trump was indicted in New York for allegedly making false statements on charges in relation to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and others. A trial has been set for March 2024.
In June, the former president was hit with federal charges in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents following his 2020 departure from the White House. A trial has been set for next May.
Before the Georgia case, he most recently was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion. A trial has been set for 2024.
No trial has been set yet in the Fulton County case.
Many of Trump’s most ardent supporters have blasted the indictments as spurious and weaponized by Democrats and Biden’s DOJ.
In spite of all of the aforementioned legal issues — or possibly as a reaction to them from Americans who believe he’s being politically persecuted — Trump holds a commanding lead over his rivals in the GOP primary field.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
