Former President Donald Trump has returned to Twitter, which is now called X, after more than two years. Trump shared an image of his mug shot, taken at Fulton County Jail on Thursday when he surrendered in Georgia after being indicted in an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the presidential election in the state. Trump faces 13 felony counts in the latest case.
Along with the mug shot, the image also read “election interference” and “never surrender.” The former president also began selling T-shirts with the mug shot on it.
His tweet has racked up more than 1 million likes. Trump was removed from Twitter and Facebook for violating the social media platform’s policies. The Twitter ban came on Jan. 9, 2021, after the insurrection which Trump is accused of inciting.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a statement at the time.
Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated after Elon Musk took over the platform, which he has since renamed X. But Trump stayed off that social media site, favoring the one he created, Truth Social.
Trump has not tweeted since Jan. 8, 2021, when he wrote: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
That was just two days after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, during which Trump tweeted: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
The Georgia case is Trump’s fourth indictment this year, but this was his first mug shot taken in any of the cases. Earlier this month, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis announced a grand jury had indicted Trump and 18 co-conspirators, who are accused of attempting to reverse his loss in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The indictment lists 41 total counts for Trump and his allies, who were charged under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO, commonly used against organized crime.
he former president was also indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged attempts to prevent the transfer of power to President Joe Biden on Jan. 6.
Under that indictment, Trump faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.
Willis gave all 19 defendants in the Fulton County case until Aug. 25 to turn themselves and Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani began showing up at the Fulton County jail earlier this week.
Trump’s booking took about 30 minutes and he posted a $200,000 bond. In Georgia, bookings and arraignments are done separately, so Trump did not appear in court on Thursday. Willis has proposed the arraignments happen the week of Sept. 5, but that date has yet to be approved by a judge.
