Donald Trump was formally arrested Thursday, August 24, on racketeering and conspiracy charges in Georgia, as the former US president battles his fourth criminal indictment while seeking reelection to the White House.
The 77-year-old billionaire was booked at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, which was ringed by a tight security perimeter as hordes of journalists and dozens of the Republican's supporters flocked to the facility.
During a brief session lasting less than 30 minutes, the 77-year-old Trump was booked on 13 charges at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, according to records published by the sheriff's office. Trump's height was listed by the jail as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry."
In posts on his Truth Social platform shortly before leaving his New Jersey golf club for the flight to Atlanta, Trump said he was being arrested for "having the audacity to challenge a RIGGED & STOLLEN (sic) ELECTION." "This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!" he added.
Trump was able to dodge having a mugshot taken during his previous arrests this year: in New York on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. But Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said standard procedure in Georgia is to take a defendant's photograph before they are released on bond – set at $200,000 in Trump's case.
Trump’s surrender to law enforcement authorities has become by now a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president being booked, in four different cities, on felony criminal charges.
But his visit to Atlanta is notably different than the three past surrenders, unfolding not in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington but rather in the heart of a battleground state vital to the 2024 presidential election. And unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, Fulton County officials have said they expect to take a booking photo as they would any other defendant.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly after 7 pm and was to be driven, through the city's rush-hour traffic, to jail for the booking process. Wearing his signature white shirt and red tie, he offered a wave and thumbs up as he descended the steps of his private plane.
The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, when he became the first former president in US history to be indicted. Since then, he has faced federal charges in Florida and Washington, and this month he was indicted in Atlanta with 18 others – including his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani – under a racketeering statute normally associated with gang members and organized crime.
Giuliani surrendered on Wednesday and posed for a mug shot. Meadows, who had sought to avoid having to turn himself in while he seeks to move the case to federal court, turned himself in Thursday. Bond was set at $100,000.