On Thursday, August 24, 2023, the Fulton County Jail released a mug shot of Donald Trump, who is fighting 91 criminal charges in federal and state courts, though Thursday's booking was unique: it was the first time the former president faced official arrest and bail. It was also the first time in American history that a former president had a mug shot taken.
The Fulton County, Ga., district attorney issued 13 counts against Trump, including racketeering, soliciting or impersonating a public officer, and making false statements. The judge gave Trump and his 18 co-defendants until Friday, August 25, to turn themselves in or face arrest.
Trump's high-profile co-defendants include attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesbro, Jenna Ellis, and Ray Smith, and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Trump wrote online that many of them "don't have a lot of money, and some of them have almost nothing," arguing that the charges and bail are unfair.
Despite claiming to be a billionaire, Trump has not offered to contribute to the legal defense costs of anyone charged alongside him.
On Thursday afternoon, he announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he would head to Georgia for his arrest. "I have to start getting ready to head down to Atlanta, Georgia [to] get ARRESTED by a Radical Left, Lowlife District Attorney, Fani Willis," he wrote.
Before his arrest, a bomb threat was made at the Atlanta courthouse where he will later stand trial. The Fulton County sheriff responded to the threat immediately with a bomb squad and K-9 units. They did not detect any explosive devices.
Trump flew from his home in New Jersey on a private jet to Georgia, where a presidential-style motorcade escorted him to the Fulton County Jail around 7:30 p.m. ET. As he disembarked, he waved to onlookers, gave a thumbs up, and mouthed, "Thank you," like a star walking the red carpet.
Booking and mug shot
The booking process only took about 30 minutes. He was fingerprinted and photographed for the now infamous mug shot.
The booking records officially listed Trump's height as 6'3" and his weight as 215 lbs., which the internet quickly made fun of. Trump reposted an article mocking his alleged height and weight, seemingly unaware it was trolling him. The former president's recorded weight Thursday was 29 pounds lighter than after his last recorded White House physical in 2020, which listed his weight at 254 lbs. The information was released online even before Trump arrived at the jail, leading many to assume that he, or a source close to him, submitted the numbers.
Following the events in Georgia on Thursday, Trump officially returned to X (formerly known as Twitter), whose owner, Elon Musk, had reversed the previous ban last November. His first post since January 8, 2021, was an image of his mug shot — the infamous orange snarl — with the captions "ELECTION INTERFERENCE" and "NEVER SURRENDER!" Trump has also started using his mug shot to raise funds for his campaign.
Of trials and pardons
Trump's attorney has said he will fight Fani Willis, the district attorney overseeing the case, over the trial date and is pushing for all his criminal trials to be postponed until after the 2024 election. If Trump is elected president, he could potentially grant himself a pardon.
Since no such action has ever happened, political experts debate whether or not the president could pardon himself. In 1866, the Supreme Court ruled that the presidential pardon "extends to every offense known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment."
While no former president has ever used a "self-pardon," the Nixon administration did consider it. The acting attorney general at the time, Mary Lawton, concluded that the president could not pardon himself. "Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his case, it would seem that the question should be answered in the negative," she wrote in 1974.
In 2020, Trump mentioned granting a "preemptive pardon" to himself and his family members due to concerns that charges would be filed against him after he left office.
"A very sad day for America"
Following his afternoon in Georgia, Trump boarded his plane again and returned to New Jersey. Before leaving the state, he gave a speech to reporters. "This is a very sad day for America. This should never happen," he began. "If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election."
Trump insisted that he believed the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that he was not the first to attempt to overturn election results. "Many people that you've been watching over the years do the same thing, whether it's Hilary Clinton or Stacey Abrams or many others," he claimed. He also asserted that challenging election results is a fundamental cornerstone of the democratic process, though of course not in those words.
"What's taken place here is a great travesty of justice. We did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong, and everyone knows it," he continued before flipping the script and claiming that those charging him are attempting to interfere with the 2024 election.
Other charges
Trump faces numerous other charges, both at the state and federal levels. The first were handed down in April 2023: 34 counts of falsifying Trump Organization business records, allegedly to reimburse Michael Cohen after his former lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair. The judge scheduled this trial for March 25, 2024, in New York.
In June 2023, a federal grand jury charged Trump with 37 criminal counts regarding the mishandling of sensitive government documents he took with him when he left office. These charges included willful retention of national security secrets and obstruction of efforts by the government to retrieve the files, as well as making false statements. On July 27, three more charges were added. The trial date is set for May 20, 2024, in Florida.
On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted on four federal charges involving the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. These include conspiracy to violate civil rights, of conspiracy to defraud the government, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding. The trial date is set for March 4, 2024.
Possible repercussions
Trump is expected to face at least four trials before the 2024 Republican National Convention. If he is convicted, he can still run for office. There are no federal laws prohibiting felons from running for office. As of August 29, 2023, he is polling at 49.9%.
However, the 14th Amendment does include a section that bars anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding public office. Theoretically, states could refuse to list Trump on the ballot, but this would likely lead to a lawsuit to be settled by the Supreme Court, where three of Trump's judicial appointees currently sit, and conservatives hold a majority.
Conspiracy to violate civil rights used to include a penalty that would disqualify a person convicted of that charge from running for office. However, that penalty has not been in effect for decades.
Trump is currently registered to vote in Florida. If found guilty, he could still run for office but would be barred from voting, as felons do not have this right in his state. Trump could apply for the restoration of his voting right, but that would need to be approved by Florida's governor and Trump's current political adversary, Ron DeSantis.
Trump also owns property in New York, so he could switch his residency to that state, where felons are allowed to vote while on parole, though if he goes to prison, he would still not be permitted to cast a ballot.
If Trump is elected before his two federal cases can go to trial, he could appoint a new attorney general, who could drop the charges against him. However, the attorney general does not have the power to dismiss state charges, so he could still face legal repercussions in Georgia and New York.
In 1997, the Supreme Court set a precedent regarding a filed lawsuit against a sitting president, when Bill Clinton faced civil charges. The court could overturn this ruling, but as it stands now, Trump would still face trial. While nobody knows how these cases against a presidential nominee may turn out, we know it will be the wildest election season yet.