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A mug shot of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, was taken at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 24, 2023. This occurred after Trump voluntarily surrendered himself to authorities following a state indictment of him and eighteen other individuals on racketeering and related charges. He was assigned the booking number 2313827. It is the first and only police booking photograph of a U.S. president.

After its publishing, it was used in Internet memes and featured on multiple newspaper front pages worldwide. Within 90 minutes of Trump’s release from the jail on bond, his 2024 presidential election campaign began using the image on merchandise.

History and content

Main article: Georgia election racketeering prosecution

Donald Trump and eighteen other co-defendants were indicted on charges of racketeering and related offenses by a Fulton County, Georgia grand jury on August 14, 2023. This indictment followed an investigation initiated in February 2021 by District Attorney Fani Willis. After the grand jury had issued arrest warrants for all nineteen defendants, Willis offered the co-defendants the option to surrender voluntarily by 12:00 Eastern Time on August 25.

Shortly after 19:30 Eastern Time on August 24, Trump turned himself in and was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. There, he was placed under arrest, assigned inmate No. P01135809, fingerprinted, had his photograph taken and was subsequently released on bond. According to jail records, Trump was listed as Template:Cvt and Template:Cvt, with blue eyes, and "Blond or Strawberry" hair. The weight is 25 pounds fewer than what Trump reportedly weighed during his Manhattan arraignment four months earlier, which also reported his height as Template:Cvt. The information was filled out in advance by aides of Trump and not by officials at the jail.

At 20:05 Eastern Time, a photograph of the image (without the watermark) was first leaked by user @CFC_Weagle on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). CNN released the official image at 21:27 Eastern Time.

At 21:38 Eastern Time, Trump posted an image of the mug shot to X. The post also contained a link to a WinRed page soliciting contributions for his 2024 presidential campaign. The accompanying text read, "MUG SHOT — AUGUST 24, 2023", "ELECTION INTERFERENCE", and "NEVER SURRENDER!", written approximately three hours after he had surrendered. This marks his first activity on the platform since January 2021, when his Twitter account was terminated due to his involvement in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack. While the suspension of his account was lifted in November 2022 after Twitter was acquired by business magnate Elon Musk, Trump did not post on the account for the following nine months.

Prior to Trump's arraignment in April 2023 in New York City, his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said that any mug shot of Trump would "go down in history as the most famous mug shot ever to exist in America". Additionally, Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley stated that such a photograph would be the "most manly, most masculine, most handsome mug shot of all time." No booking photograph was taken during the arraignment, and Trump's campaign website began selling T-shirts featuring a pretend mug shot. Trump's campaign began selling T-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise with the Fulton County Jail booking photograph 90 minutes after his release from the jail.

Reaction

By August 27, art critic Jerry Saltz declared the mug shot to be "the most famous photograph in the world." The photograph was described as "iconic and infamous" on CNN. The Associated Press called it "an enduring image that will appear in history books long after Donald Trump is gone." The Guardian's Chris McGreal referred to it as the defining mug shot of the decade, and one that defines modern U.S. politics. He noted, "Trump's hostility shines through as he turns his eyes up toward the camera above him and in his taut, downturned mouth [...] Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, he makes no attempt to put on a smile like some of his co-defendants in their mugshots. The picture does not flatter but it does convey the message many of Trump's supporters want to hear – belligerence." The Telegraph stated, "The 45th president is pictured striking a hostile pose, with his eyebrows contracted, lips pursed and a menacing scowl on his face. His head and the top of his shoulders are visible in what is likely to become a world-famous image." Columnist Maureen Dowd of The New York Times noted that "the Picture of Donald Trump should have been a 'foul parody,' a reflection of what the chancer has done with his life. It should have shown Trump's corroding soul rather than his truculent face. It should have revealed a man so cynical and depraved that he is willing to smash our nation’s soul – our democracy – and destroy faith in our institutions. All this simply to avoid being called a loser." Fox News host Jesse Watters said of Trumps appearance that "he looks good [and] hard".

The Associated Press described his facial expression as an "intense glare", adding "His defiance is palpable, as if he's staring down a nemesis through the lens." Time commented, "His platinum blonde [sic] cotton candy wisp of hair shimmering in the harsh jailhouse lighting. His eyes locked in a hard stare. His mouth flattened in a grimace. Instead of smiling like some of his co-defendants, he appears to be scowling." BBC News referred to the composition of the picture as a "photographer's nightmare." Critic Vanessa Friedman, writing in The New York Times, called the image "a mug shot for history that is unprecedented" and noted that "his face is lit from above by a blinding white flash that hits his ash blond hair like a spotlight. [...] He glowers out from beneath his brows, unsmiling, eyes rendered oddly bloodshot, brow furrowed, chin tucked in, as if he is about to head-butt the camera. The image is stark, shorn of the flags and fancy that have been Mr. Trump's preferred framings for photo ops at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, or during his term in office, and that communicate power and the gilded glow of success." Friedman quoted historian Sean Wilentz as describing the mug shot as "dramatically unprecedented". CNN labeled the photo stark in its perceived simplicity and "one of the most iconic images of anyone who served as commander in chief." The Independent observed that "the 45th president glowers straight into the camera, brow furrowed and sizable bushy eyebrows lowered as he faces his fate", adding "it is an undeniable fact that Trump’s mug shot is both historically and culturally significant – and soon to be seen everywhere, forever."

Commentators have likened Trump's expression to the "Kubrick stare," emblematic of several memorable characters of American filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's films. In Internet memes and commentary, the booking photograph was also said to imitate character Vigo the Cruel's "menacing stare featured prominently in Ghostbusters IITemplate:-" and the eponymous character's "blue steel" pose in the movie Zoolander.

When asked by a journalist for his opinion of the photograph, U.S. President Joe Biden, Trump’s successor, quipped that Trump is a "handsome guy, wonderful guy."

Appearance on newspaper front pages

Many newspapers featured the mug shot on their front pages, including the New York Daily News, USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Jersey Journal, the Star-Advertiser in Honolulu, the Anchorage Daily News, the Dothan Eagle in Alabama, the Arizona Daily Sun, La Opinión in Los Angeles, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Chicago Sun Times, the Tampa Bay Times, The Oregonian, The Villages Daily Sun in Florida, the Dallas Morning News, the Calgary Sun, Le Journal de Montréal, El Universal in Mexico City, Milenio in Mexico, and Dawn in Pakistan.

Other international newspapers that ran the mug shot on their front pages include the Toronto Star, La Repubblica in Italy and O Globo in Brazil. The BBC reported that three newspapers in the United Kingdom had featured the mug shot: The Guardian, the Daily Mirror and The Sun.

Use for fundraising

Following the release of the mugshot, the Trump campaign almost immediately began using the image on merchandise. It was reported on August 28, 2023 that the Trump campaign had raised more than $7 million since the release of the mugshot. Shortly after beginning to sell merchandise with the mug shot, the Trump campaign threatened legal action against anybody who sold merchandise featuring it without Trump's permission. Despite this, Trump does not own the image's copyright, and did not receive permission from the Fulton County Sheriff's Office to sell it.

See also

• Public image of Donald Trump