Trump booked at Atlanta jail on election charges, heads home

Donald Trump left an Atlanta jail after he was booked on more than a dozen felony charges on Thursday as part of a wide-ranging criminal case stemming from the former US president’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.

Authorities had said they expected to take Trump’s mug shot at Fulton County Jail – a first for Trump, who did not have to sit for a photograph when making initial appearances in three other criminal cases.

Trump’s motorcade left the jail about 20 minutes after entering and headed toward Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where his private jet was waiting to ferry him back to his New Jersey golf club.

Trump, 77, already has entered uncharted territory as the first former US president to face criminal charges, though the four cases filed against him have not damaged his front-runner status in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election.

Dozens of supporters, waving Trump banners and American flags, jostled for a glimpse as Trump arrived at the jail. Among the Trump backers gathered outside was Georgia US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the former president’s most loyal congressional allies.