Donald Trump mugshot merchandise launched as co-defendants meet jail deadline

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Donald Trump and 18 others charged with an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election have all turned themselves in ahead of Friday’s court deadline.

After the former president was booked in Fulton County Jail in Atlanta – scowling at the camera for the first-ever mug shot of a former president – seven remaining co-defendants did the same.

Trump, who is running for president in the 2024 election, had already made history as the first former US president to face criminal charges – not once but four times. This, however, was the first time he had to have a booking photo taken.

The 77-year-old wasted no time using the picture for fundraising purposes, posting it on social media and even having a T-shirt made that supporters could buy for $34.

Trump’s backers believe that, far from harming his chances, the picture could be an asset to his campaign.

“It will go worldwide. It will be a more popular image than the Mona Lisa,” said Laura Loomer, a former Republican congressional candidate.

Within minutes of the mug shot’s release, Trump’s campaign used it in a fundraising appeal on its website. “BREAKING NEWS: THE MUGSHOT IS HERE,” reads the subject line of the campaign’s latest fundraising email, which advertises the new T-shirt.

“This mugshot will forever go down in history as a symbol of America’s defiance of tyranny.”

All but one of Trump’s co-defendants were released on bail. Harrison William Prescott Floyd, who is accused of harassing an election worker, did not negotiate bail and remained behind bars on Friday evening.

Federal court records show Floyd, a former US Marine active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago on a federal warrant that accuses him of aggressively confronting two FBI agents sent to serve him with a grand jury subpoena.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is now expected to set hearing dates for each of the defendants in the coming weeks, to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

The case filed under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act is sprawling, and the logistics of bringing it to trial are likely to be complicated.

Some defendants have already sought to have a faster, truncated trial while there is speculation Trump will try to move the case to a federal court.

Trump lawyer Steve Sadow has also filed an objection to the proposed broad October trial date and a March date that has previously been suggested.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report