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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
As Democrats celebrate and cheer former President Donald Trump’s four indictments, he finally had a mugshot taken after being arrested in Fulton County, Ga., last week, leading Fox News host Jesse Watters to marvel at it for a far different reason.
During a segment on “The Five,” the co-host lauded Trump for his somber demeanor and opined that he believes Democrats are helping turn him into a political “martyr” as he then praised the “hard” look Trump had during his mugshot.
“And I am now going to book the Fulton County photographer for my Christmas card,” Watters told co-host Jeanine Pirro. “Because Judge and I say this with an unblemished record of heterosexuality. He looks good, and he looks hard.”
Watters’ “unblemished record of heterosexuality” remark appears to reference the popular sitcom television series “Seinfeld,” when the character George Costanza complimented the show’s star, Jerry Seinfeld, who played himself.
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“The Democrats have overplayed their hand. They’ve done something that no one else has ever been able to do, and that’s make Trump a sympathetic character,” Watters added, according to Mediaite. “They’ve made him a martyr. And now I want to get arrested because I definitely need some sympathy.”
Trump, the current 2024 Republican front-runner, told Fox News in an interview after he was booked and processed by Fulton County authorities that providing a mugshot was “not a comfortable feeling—especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta after being charged in District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state, Fox News reported.
“They insisted on a mugshot, and I agreed to do that,” he said. “This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mugshot. It is not a comfortable feeling — especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“This is all about election interference,” Trump said. “It all comes through Washington and the DOJ and Crooked Joe Biden — nothing like this has ever happened in our country before.”
Trump said the United States is “doing horribly, but now, it is doing worse because we have become a Third World country.”
Trump’s bail was set at $200,000, and he was quickly processed and released.
The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday while waiving his right to appear in person, reports noted.
Also, Trump’s legal team is seeking to split his case off from the other 18 defendants charged by Willis in connection to alleged racketeering and other activities related to the 2020 election.
“Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings on Sept. 6 for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case. Trump’s court filing entering a not guilty plea also waived arraignment, meaning he won’t have to show up for that,” the Associated Press reported.
Opting out of an in-person appearance spares Trump from the dramatic courtroom proceedings that have unfolded in his three other criminal cases. In those instances, the former Republican president was escorted into a courtroom amid heightened security, where he declared his “not guilty” pleas before spectators, the AP added.
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Georgia’s court regulations are relatively lenient regarding news cameras within the courtroom, which means Trump will not be required to enter a plea on live television, the newswire continued.
Last month, Trump and the others were hit with a 41-count indictment that detailed an alleged plot to undermine the will of Georgia voters who had selected Democrat Joe Biden as their choice over the Republican incumbent in the presidential election.
On Thursday, an attorney representing Trump asked McAfee to separate the former president’s his case from that of other defendants who have sought an expedited trial. The judge has already scheduled a trial date for one of these defendants on October 23rd.
