Former US President Donald Trump has returned to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and posted an update for the first time since his account was suspended in early 2021.
In a post on X, Trump shared a mugshot of himself from his booking at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. The image also contained the words, "ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!"
Despite four indictments in the past five months, Trump had long managed to evade getting a mugshot. But on 24 August, he finally had his picture taken by police when he surrenders to authorities in Fulton County, Georgia, charged in connection with his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results there. (He denies wrongdoing.) In it, he is seething, with angled eyebrows and a hard stare. The image will join the ranks of celebrity mugshots: famous faces in turns defiant, dejected, drunk, smirking or sulking.
According to a report by ABC News, “A mug shot is a visceral representation of the criminal justice system, a symbol of lost freedom”.
The first mug shot was first taken in 1888 by French police officer and researcher Alphonse Bertilon. The Bertilion mug shot consisted of two photographs - one facing the camera while the other one in profile. It also consisted of descriptions of physical features and certain other measurements, reported Smithsonian magazine.
According to the report, in 1908 New York City Police Department compiled a series of images showcasing how to properly take mug shots and accompanying measurements.
Trump, who had 88 million followers on Twitter, was banned from the social media platform in January 2021 following an attack by his supporters on the US Capitol. However, Trump's account was reinstated shortly after Elon Musk took over the social media giant in October 2022.
Trump had used Twitter, among other social media platforms, to claim that he lost the 2020 US election due to widespread voter fraud and to promote other conspiracy theories, Reuters reported.
Trump claimed he was 'innocent' and had done nothing wrong after surrendering at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday in a case related to election fraud and conspiracy charges.
After spending less than 30 minutes at the jail before leaving in a motorcade for the airport, Trump said, "We have every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest."
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators on 14 August, alleging they violated Georgia's racketeering law by joining a criminal enterprise to keep Trump in office after he lost the election.
Trump launched his second bid for the White House on 15 November. However, the former president decided to skip the Republican primary debate on Fox News in favour of an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, which was streamed on X and prominently shared by the site's owner, Elon Musk. The 46-minute conversation has been viewed over 250 million times on X.
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