Donald Trump became the first ever former US president to have a mugshot taken after he surrendered to authorities in Georgia on Thursday night.
The 45th president is pictured striking a hostile pose, with his eyebrows contracted, lips pursed and a menacing scowl on his face, which some social media users compared to Ben Stiller’s ‘Blue Steel’ look from the movie Zoolander.
Mr Trump’s head and the top of his shoulders are visible in what is likely to become a world-famous image.
The colour of his navy suit, white shirt and tanned skin stood out vividly in contrast to the dull grey backdrop of the jail.
Fulton County Jail released the image after Mr Trump was booked on racketeering and conspiracy charges and released on $200,000 bond.
The historic image might once have been considered a political albatross for Mr Trump, who is running to retake the White House in 2024.
But Mr Trump has seen a surge in polls in the wake of his four indictments and believes he can effectively market the mugshot to mobilise his supporters, who believe the charges are politically-motivated.
“This mugshot will forever go down in history as a symbol of America’s defiance of tyranny,” said a Trump campaign fundraising email.
Mr Trump returned to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, for the first time since January 2021 to broadcast the image shortly after leaving the jailhouse.
“Election interference. Never surrender!” said the accompanying caption.
Mr Trump was suspended from the platform in the wake of the Jan 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
He was reinstated this year but had shunned the platform, where he has more than 81 million followers, until Thursday night.
The Trump campaign also emailed supporters a copy of the photo and asked for contributions.
The email read: “PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL NEVER SURRENDER OUR MISSION TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
John Bolton, Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, said the mugshot was “carefully staged” and was intended as “a sign of intimidation against the prosecutors and judges”.
“They must have thought about what look they wanted - he could have smiled, he could have looked benign. Instead, he looks like a thug,” he told CNN.
Maggie Haberman, a New York Times journalist and political analyst who has covered Mr Trump closely, said his attempt to exploit the mugshot was “all part of a playbook that we have seen him use over and over again”.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, has charged Mr Trump, along with 18 co-defendants, for participating in a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Officials in the three other cases in which Mr Trump has been indicted waived the requirement for a photograph, given he is one of the most recognisable faces on the planet.
However, the county sheriff, Patrick Labat, said he intended to follow “normal practices”. “It doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you,” he said.
It makes Mr Trump the first president, sitting or former, to have his picture on a police file. He was also given an inmate number: P01135809.
It joins a handful of well-known mugshots, including that of OJ Simpson, the former American football star who was arrested on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson’s image graced the cover of Time magazine.
Hugh Grant and his mugshot made international headlines after the LAPD arrested him for his encounter with a sex worker in Hollywood.
Although Mr Trump is the first former president to have his mugshot taken, he is not the first American politician.
John Edwards, who pushed to be elected in 2008, was arrested over charges he misused campaign funds to hide his mistress and child in 2011. He was later cleared of the charges.
In Georgia, Mr Trump faces 11 crimes relating to his alleged bid to overturn the 2020 election result.
Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and John Eastman have been indicted and had mugshots released.
Mr Trump denounced what he called a “travesty of justice” following his booking on Thursday night.
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