Donald Trump surrendered Thursday on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute booking that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a US ex-president.
He was released on $200,000 bond and headed back to the airport for his return flight home to New Jersey, flashing a thumbs-up through the window of his sport utility vehicle as his motorcade left.
A booking photo released by authorities shot Trump, wearing a navy suit and red tie, angrily scowling at the camera, his brows furrowed as he stares into the lens.
Unrepentant but subdued after the brief jail visit, he insisted as has repeatedly had that he “did nothing wrong” and called the case accusing him of subverting election results a “travesty of justice.”
“If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election,” he told reporters on the airport tarmac before boarding his plane.
Body language expert Patti Wood claimed the scowling former president’s mugshot is hiding his sadness.
She told Daily Express US: “Typically when somebody views face expressing emotion of anger central nervous system responds very quickly with a strong emotion such as fear or corresponding anger and they may go into the freeze, flight, fight, fall, or faint response.
“I’ve analyzed perp walks courtroom behavior and mug shots for years, it is unusual to see the mugshot of a white-collar criminal with such obvious anger.
“It’s also interesting to see the difference in the right and left side of his face.
“When someone is feeling conflicting emotions their limbic system may show it on one side of the face before they can fully control it so you see a lack of symmetry on the left and right side of the face of someone who’s feeling conflicted emotions.
“Though he is clearly angry, if you as the viewer put your hand over the right side of the face you see the full complete facial configuration of the emotion of anger. If you put your hand over the left side of the space you can see slight traces of sadness at the mouth. As the outer corner of the lips is turned down slightly.
“But it’s not true sadness because his eyebrows and forehead still are in that focus downward motion of anger. “So what he’s actually showing is the mouth expression that people make signaling their disbelief or negation of what’s going on.”
Trump’s surrender to law enforcement authorities, the fourth time this year, has become by now a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president, and current candidate, being booked on criminal charges.
But his visit to Atlanta was notably different from the three past surrenders, unfolding at night and requiring him to visit a problem-plagued jail — rather than a courthouse.
It occurred not in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington but rather in the heart of a battleground state seen as vital to the 2024 presidential race.
And unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, a booking photo of him was taken, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the proceedings.
His jail visit created a remarkable split-screen visual during a 2024 Republican primary contest in which he remains the leading candidate, coming one day after a debate in Milwaukee where eight of his leading rivals sought to exploit Trump’s absence by standing out from the pack.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly after 7 pm and was driven 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.
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