Former President Trump became the first U.S. president in history, past or present, known to have his mugshot taken – a stipulation of his surrender at the Fulton County, Ga., jail Thursday evening following a fourth criminal indictment this year.
The indictments were also a first as Trump became the only American president to face criminal charges, which now number in the dozens.
Fulton County officials released Trump’s mugshot after he surrendered to the local jail, joining a handful of other defendants also named in the case.
Despite it being his fourth indictment, it was the first time Trump had his mugshot taken, which was released publicly. He was not required to take mugshots the three other times he surrendered to authorities in other cases he faces, two of which are federal.
The state case in Georgia involves 19 defendants total, who have been charged with a criminal conspiracy to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss to then-candidate Joe Biden.
The mugshot of Trump adds to those already released of the co-defendants who surrendered previously over the week, including his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
When he surrendered in Florida in the federal case over his handling of classified documents, the U.S. Marshals Service cited “ample imagery of the defendant in the public domain” for why a mugshot was not needed.
But in Fulton County, officials had been suggesting for days that they would stick to their normal practice of taking a mugshot of defendants who are booked at the Fulton County jail.
“Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mug shot ready for you,” Sheriff Pat Labat previously said, according to WSB-TV.
It remains to be seen how Trump might capitalize on the official historic photo but Trump’s campaign has already seized on his previous indictments by tacking on fake mugshot photos to campaign paraphernalia.
At least two of his co-defendants, attorney Jenna Ellis and former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer, both made their mugshots their profile photos on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.