Donald Trump Held in Election Case

The former US president Donald Trump was detained on racketeering and conspiracy charges on Thursday in a Georgia jail before being released on a $200,000 bail.

Trump spent less than 30 minutes in Atlanta's Fulton County Jail before leaving in a limousine for the airport. Trump is charged with conspiring with 18 other defendants to rig the results of the 2020 election in the southern state.

A first for any current or past US president, the 77-year-old Trump had his mug photo taken during the booking procedure, along with the other defendants in the case who have so far surrendered.

In the photograph released by the sheriff's office, he scowled at the camera while dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie.

Speaking to reporters after his arrest, Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said it was a "very sad day for America."

"What has taken place here is a travesty of justice," he said. "I did nothing wrong."

Trump posted the mug shot on his own Truth Social platform with the caption "Election Interference" and a link to his campaign website.

A short while later, he also posted it on X -- formerly Twitter, which was Trump's favorite bullhorn until he was banned from it after the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

New owner Elon Musk reinstated Trump on X in November of last year, but Trump stayed away and posted instead on Truth Social. This was Trump's first post since 2021 on what had been Twitter.

Trump was given the inmate number "PO1135809" by the Fulton County Jail, which listed his height as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry."

The billionaire has been criminally indicted four times since April, setting the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as he tries to juggle multiple court appearances and another White House campaign.

Trump was able to dodge having a mugshot taken during his previous arrests this year: in New York on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

His arrest came one day after Trump spurned a televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination -- all of whom lag well behind him in the polls.

He still stole the spotlight, though, with all but two of the candidates saying they would support him as the party's nominee even if he were a convicted felon.

A tight security perimeter was set up for Trump's booking at the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable conditions.

Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed the sweeping racketeering case, had set a deadline of noon on Friday for Trump and the other 18 defendants to surrender.

Trump and 11 others have turned themselves in so far.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered on Thursday and was released on $100,000 bond.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal lawyer when he was in the White House and vigorously pushed the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election, was booked and released on Wednesday.

John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who is accused of drawing up a scheme to submit a false slate of Trump electors to Congress from Georgia instead of the legitimate Biden ones, has also been booked and released.

A few dozen supporters of the former Republican president gathered outside the jail, including Sharon Anderson who spent the night in her car.

"I think this is a political persecution and now that's turned into a political prosecution," Anderson told AFP.

Trump is the first US president in history to face criminal charges.

His various trials, if they take place next year, may coincide with the Republican presidential primary season, which begins in January, and the campaign for the November 2024 White House election.

Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the last election with a lie-fueled campaign that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Trump's legal team has responded with a recommended start date that would be April 2026, far after the election.

The Georgia district attorney Willis initially suggested that the racketeering prosecution start in March of 2020, the same month that Trump is due to stand trial in New York on allegations of paying Stormy Daniels hush money.

After one of the defendants requested a swift trial on Thursday, the prosecutor suggested that all 19 cases start in October of this year. Trump's attorneys immediately objected to the suggestion.

The Florida case, where Trump is charged with allegedly stealing classified government records as he left the White House and refusing to give them up, is set to start in May.