President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has raised more than $7 million since the former president was processed at an Atlanta jail and his mugshot was taken last week, according to his campaign.
Immediately after the former president’s mugshot was released online, it immediately drew considerable attention on social media. On X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, President Trump posted on his account for the first time in more than two years, showing his mugshot while declaring election interference and directing supporters to his campaign website.
The spokesman noted that roughly $20 million has been raised in the past three weeks, which he said coincided with indictments in Washington in separate cases. Special counsel Jack Smith indicted President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for alleged criminal behavior that he said the former president engaged in in the wake of the 2020 election and around Jan. 6, 2021.
“Organic money has skyrocketed, especially after [President Trump] tweeted out the picture along with the website URL,” Mr. Cheung wrote.
The fundraising haul underscores how the former president’s legal troubles have been a fundraising blessing. The mounting charges have also failed to affect his poll numbers, with the RealClearPolitics Average on Aug. 27 showing the former president at 55.1 percent, easily beating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s No. 2, by more than 40 percentage points.
The mugshot, which was posted online by a Georgia courthouse on Aug. 24, has since been turned into coffee cups, posters, bobblehead dolls, and T-shirts. It shows President Trump leaning forward and staring directly into the camera.
“If you are doing poorly due to the sinister people in control of our country right now, don’t even think about donating,” the website reads.
“The American people know what’s going on. What has taken place is a travesty of justice and Election interference. The Left wants to intimidate you out of voting for a political outsider who puts the American people first. But I walked into the lion’s den with one simple message on behalf of our entire movement: I will never surrender our mission to save America.”
President Trump himself told media outlets after the arrest that it was a “terrible experience” and that the mugshot wasn’t a “comfortable feeling.” The reason why is because he didn’t do anything wrong, he said.
Some private and nonpolitical groups have also attempted to capitalize on the mugshot. For example, Barstool Sports has been selling its own Trump mugshot T-shirts for $32, according to its website.
Aside from the mugshot, President Trump’s height of 6 feet, 3 inches and weight of 215 pounds were recorded and entered onto jail booking forms before his release on $200,000 bail. He was also given a prisoner identification number of P01135809.
“President Trump further respectfully puts the Court on notice that he requests the Court set a scheduling conference at its earliest convenience so he can be heard on the State’s motions for entry of pretrial scheduling order and to specially set trial,” Mr. Sadow wrote.
That filing came before the former president was booked.
A day before his mugshot was taken, the Republican National Committee and Fox News staged the first 2024 GOP debate, which the former president didn’t attend, citing his significant lead in opinion polls. Instead, President Trump appeared in an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, released on X, that garnered more than 250 million impressions.
