US: Trump’s presidential campaign sells merchandise featuring his mugshot

Washington DC [US], August 26 : Soon after former US President Donald Trump surrendered in Fulton County, in a Georgia election subversion case, his 2024 presidential campaign started selling merchandise featuring the first mug shot of a former US president, The Washington Post reported.
Notably, Trump has throughout tried his best to appear “unfazed and unbowed” by having been indicted four times since March, as per the New York Times.
“It is not a comfortable feeling — especially when you have done nothing wrong,” he told Fox News’s website in an interview.
However, Trump has been able to make the most of his mug shot, according to The Post.
The merchandise, including T-shirts, mugs, koozies and bumper stickers of Trump’s mug shot, was for sale about 90 minutes after he was released from an Atlanta jail on Thursday. The merchandise, which includes USD 34 shirts, is accompanied by the words “NEVER SURRENDER!”
Notably, Trump surrendered at the jail on Thursday and was released on a USD 200,000 bond in a move his legal team negotiated this week.
The ‘Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee’ is also selling his mug shot, saying it would give out a T-shirt in exchange for a USD 47 donation. The Trump campaign claimed in a fundraising email that his mug shot was an attempt “to make him look like a criminal in front of the entire world,” The Post reported.
Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also posted on X a link to his own website featuring merchandise with the photo. The younger Trump said he would donate proceeds from the sales to a legal defence fund that his father’s advisers had set up to assist with bills accrued by people who are witnesses in the cases, NYT reported.
Even before the mug shot was snapped at the jail in Atlanta, an email from Trump’s joint fund-raising committee primed his supporters by saying, “It’s been reported that if I am unjustly indicted and arrested in the Atlanta Witch Hunt, a mug shot will be taken of me.”
Notably, one of Trump’s top advisers, Chris LaCivita, issued a warning on social media to political entities that might seek to profit from the photo by using it to suggest a connection to the Trump campaign, NYT reported.
Meanwhile, other Republicans are also raising money off the mug shots. A committee for Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), who is running for re-election in 2024, urged supporters to donate to WinRed, a small-donor fundraising platform for Republicans.
“Today, ALL defence pledges will be flagged SPECIFICALLY for President Trump’s campaign,” the ad read.
“They insisted on a mug shot and I agreed to do that,” Trump told Fox News’s website after he was booked on a lengthy list of charges stemming from his efforts to remain in power after his election loss. “This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mug shot.”
However, this isn’t the first time the Trump campaign has attempted to monetize the idea of Trump’s mug shot, an unprecedented moment in American history. After a New York grand jury indicted Trump in April, in a case stemming from alleged hush money payments to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the Trump campaign sold T-shirts with a fake mug shot for 47 USD, emblazoned with the words “NOT GUILTY”, as per The Post.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden took a dig at Trump over his viral mug shot picture.
“I did see it on television. Handsome guy,” Biden told a reporter while vacationing in Lake Tahoe.
Notably, hours after he surrendered and his mugshot was released, Trump shared his mugshot with the link to his site. This came a few hours after his surrender in Fulton County, Ga. in the Georgia election subversion case.
"ELECTION INTERFERENCE! NEVER SURRENDER!" he wrote while sharing the mug shot photo on X.
It was the first time Trump posted on the social media platform since his account was suspended shortly after the January 6 riots at the Capitol. His last tweet was on January 8, 2021, when Trump said that he would not attend the inauguration of then-US President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump surrendered himself in Fulton County jail in Atlanta, in connection with the Georgia election subversion case. But he was later released on bond, according to jail records, CNN reported.
The jail records show that the former US President was placed under arrest and booked at the Fulton County jail on Thursday (US local time) night in connection with the Georgia election subversion case.
Trump was at the jail for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, Trump faces a total of 91 charges across four criminal cases. His surrender and arraignment in Georgia are expected to look different from those in his previous three criminal cases.