President Trump has surrendered to the Fulton County Sheriff’s office at Atlanta, becoming the first former or current American president to have a mugshot taken.  

Mr. Trump traveled to Atlanta Thursday from his golf course at Bedminster, New Jersey. He was booked at Atlanta’s notorious Fulton County Jail on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election. The primetime booking scored wall-to-wall coverage across all cable news networks. Speaking to reporters on the tarmac of Atlanta’s airport following his surrender, Mr. Trump called it “a sad day for America.”

“This should never happen,” he told reporters. “You should be able to challenge an election. I thought it was a rigged election, a stolen election and I should have every right to do that. As you know, you have many people you’ve been watching over the years who do the same thing whether it’s Hillary Clinton or Stacey Abrams.”

“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” the former president said.  

Mr. Trump spent the hours leading up to his surrender posting on his social media platform, Truth Social. His online posts included polls showing him leading the field for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination by more than 30 percentage points, clips of his Wednesday interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and criticisms of the city of Atlanta for its high crime rates. 

“Why is there so much MURDER in Atlanta?” the former president asked online. “Why is there so much Violent Crime? People are afraid to go outside to buy a loaf of bread! One big reason is that failed District Attorney, Fani Willis, who is campaigning and fundraising off “get Trump” (much like the others!), doesn’t have the Time, Money, or Interest to go after the real criminals, even the REALLY Violent ones, that are destroying Atlanta, and its once beautiful culture and way of life.” 

Ms. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who is prosecuting Mr. Trump, has asked the presiding judge that the trial begin on March 4, 2024, which is one day after the pivotal Super Tuesday presidential primaries which will award the largest number of convention delegates to candidates. The trial also would begin just eight days before Georgia’s pivotal presidential primary. 

But the trial date could shift for the former president’s co-defendants. On Thursday, one of Mr. Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case, attorney Kenneth Cheseboro, requested an October 2023 trial date, which the presiding judge granted. Mr. Trump opposes any change to his March 2024 trial date, though some of his co-defendants could join Mr. Cheseboro should they make the request. 

Mr. Trump’s mugshot immediately became an online sensation for both his detractors and most ardent supporters alike. 

His co-defendants who have so far surrendered have already had their mugshots released to great fanfare online. Mayor Giuliani was booked by law enforcement on Wednesday, with his mugshot released shortly thereafter.

Two co-defendants who aided Mr. Trump in his attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, attorney Jenna Ellis and the state GOP chairman, David Shafer, changed their social media profiles to their mugshots. Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, also had his mugshot released on Thursday by Georgia officials. 

The sheriff of Fulton County, Pat Labat, whose name is emblazoned on the sheriff’s department watermark on all the mugshots, had assured the public that Mr. Trump would also have his booking photo taken. Sheriff Labat previously said he would follow “normal procedures” in the booking of the former president.

The president’s campaign is likely to profit off the release of the mugshot. In April, shortly after Mr. Trump was first indicted on charges of campaign violations at Manhattan, his campaign released merchandise showing a false mugshot above the words “NOT GUILTY.”   

Some believe Mr. Trump’s booking photo will  become one of the most famous images in recent decades. The president of the New York Young Republican Club, Gavin Wax, who is supporting Mr. Trump, tells the Sun the mugshot will “go down as the seminal political image of the 21st century.”

“Just as the headshot of Che Guevara became an icon around which the American left has rallied for over half a century, the Trump mugshot will be indelibly etched in the American psyche,” Mr. Wax says. “It will also serve as an inflection point in our nation’s body politic and political history as an icon that defines the right because it tangibly marks a bridge we never thought we would cross.”

Mr. Trump faces 13 felony charges of racketeering, among other allegations. On every charge, he has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing.