Mrinalini Majumdar,Pune
After being charged for over a dozen felonies – Donald Trump got on the headlines on Thursday when he became the first former president to ever have his mug shot captured, an image that’s going to echo throughout the 2024 election cycle and evolve into an emblem of his legacy.
As a result of a thorough criminal investigation stemming from his attempts to avenge his Georgia 2020 election loss, the former President was detained in an Atlanta jail on more than a dozen felony counts. The August 14 indictment by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is the first time authorities made Trump submit a photo despite the fact that he is currently accused of several crimes in three other cases. When suspects are held, authorities frequently snap pictures of them, partly to identify them in subsequent criminal investigations.
Instead, the incident has appeared to benefit Trump. Dozens of supporters crowded around him, as he appeared at the jail, carrying Trump banners along with American flags. Among those gathering outside were Georgia U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the former president’s most steadfast legislative loyalists. Trump’s team was already selling products with a bogus arrest photo, while there were indications that his advisors might try to exploit the public image in his bid for the Republican nomination. Trump boasted on social media earlier this week that he would ultimately “proudly be arrested.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the three more counts and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, according to the trial’s numerous updates. Willis requested that Georgian preparations begin the week of September 5, but defendants there are free to forgo such appearances and enter a not guilty plea in court documents.
In addition to accepting bail conditions that forbade him from influencing witnesses or his co-defendants in the Georgia case, Trump agreed to post a $200,000 bond. Additionally, Republicans in the US House of Representatives declared on Thursday that they will investigate any unlawful collusion between Willis and federal prosecutors. They had already started looking into Bragg, who had been claiming that they were running a “campaign of intimidation.”