Former President Trump touted his new mug shot-adorned merchandise in a video Thursday, claiming efforts to make him look like a criminal “totally backfired.”
In the video posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform, the former president, who is also the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, slammed Fulton County, Ga., officials for making him take a mug shot, touted his fundraising since the mug shot was taken and held up a T-shirt with the image on it.
“They make me look like a criminal, but it completely and totally backfired, as you probably read. Since my mug shot was released, our campaign has raised over $10 million. The people get it. The people know this is a sham and a scam. This is nothing but election interference,” Trump said in the video, repeating a frequent refrain about the four criminal indictments he faces.
Trump — who faces four criminal indictments, two of which are related to his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election — claimed his political opponents want to “try and damage me with all these bullshit lawsuits,” which, he claimed, were “orchestrated” by President Biden.
Trump did not get his mug shot taken in his three other criminal cases; officials in those cases said Trump was recognizable enough that a mug shot was not necessary. In Georgia, however, officials have insisted that all defendants be treated equally.
Trump invoked this argument in making the case that he was being targeted unfairly. He also repeated false claims of a rigged election.
“Is there anyone on the planet that doesn’t know what I look like? I wish there were some people like that, that’d be very nice for me,” Trump said in the video. “Yet, for some reason, the communist Democrats in Atlanta made a mug shot of me … because I said the election was rigged and I believe it more strongly than ever. It was a rigged election. We all know why, and we know what they’re doing, and we certainly get it. But I know I’m your favorite president.”
Trump had previously reported raising more than $7 million from the Georgia mug shot. As he concluded the video, Trump held up a shirt with the mug shot and the words “never surrender.”
“On Nov. 5, 2024, it’s going to backfire again when we win back the White House and make America great again. I just want to thank you for your tremendous support,” Trump said, before holding up the shirt. “And here it is, if you want to go out and get it, you can go out and get it. Have fun with it. But people do like it; I must say thank you very much.”