Trump recounts ‘terrible experience’ of being booked in Georgia

Former President Trump said he had a “terrible experience” while being booked at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday night, surrendering to Georgia authorities after being charged on 13 counts related to seeking to overturn the state’s 2020 election.

Trump, in separate interviews with Fox News Digital and Newsmax just a short time after his arrest, described the process as “very sad” and uncomfortable as he recounted being processed and having his mug shot taken.

“They insisted on a mug shot, and I agreed to do that,” he told Fox Digital. “This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mug shot.”

“It is not a comfortable feeling — especially when you’ve done nothing wrong,” he added.

Trump recounted his experience at length in an interview with Newsmax’s Greg Kelly after landing back in New Jersey. 

Trump at one point claimed he’d “never heard the words mug shot,” only to later find himself taking one. He quipped that they didn’t teach him the words during his time at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance, from which he graduated in 1968.

“I went through an experience that I never thought I’d have to go through, but then I’ve gone through the same experience three other times. In my whole life, I didn’t know anything about indictments. And now I’ve been indicted, like, four times,” he said.

Trump would later reference the sum of the cases now brought against him.

“Everything is just like one thing after the next. What they want to do is they want to try and wear you out, which they would never do,” he said.

Thursday marked the fourth time this year Trump has been arrested and booked, having previously been charged in criminal cases previously in Manhattan, Florida and Washington, D.C. But he did not have a mug shot taken in those cases, something officials in Atlanta made clear would be different this time around.

Mug shots of Trump’s co-defendants in Fulton County have steadily been released as they have turned themselves in this week. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) gave those charged in the case until noon Friday to surrender to authorities.

Trump was charged last week with 13 counts stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. The indictment, brought by Willis, outlined Trump’s pressure campaign against election officials, a plot to submit false slates of electors and a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results in the state.