Bolton said that the former president “carefully staged” his scowl to project “intimidation against the prosecutors and judges.”
Former President Donald Trump “carefully staged” his mugshot in Georgia to look like “a thug,” according to Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton.
Trump’s mugshot was taken while he was booked Thursday at the Fulton County Jail on 13 felony charges related to attempts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss. As with his three prior arrests on felony charges this year, the former president has protested his innocence in Georgia and claims to be the victim of political “persecution” and “election interference.”
The mugshot instantly inspired a flood of jokes and memes online, with some suggesting that Trump’s scowl resembled the bad-tempered Dr. Seuss character “The Grinch.” Trump’s 2024 campaign also began fundraising off of the image almost immediately after was released. The campaign previously raised funds off of a fake mugshot when no official photo was taken during Trump’s first arrest earlier this year in New York.
