Will Donald Trump’s forensic photo have… a beneficial effect on the former US President’s campaign? His campaign team has announced that it has raised $7.1 million between the publication of said photo on August 24 and this Sunday, August 27. Face closed, eyebrows furrowed, gaze defiant: Donald Trump had been subjected to this shooting in an Atlanta prison, a first for a former president in the history of the United States.

The Republican primary favorite for the 2024 presidential nomination had escaped on his three previous criminal charges, but the billionaire, accused of trying to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election in this southern state , did not cut this shot this time.

As soon as the image was released, the Trump 2024 campaign team had been riding the “mug shot” effect by appealing to every American “patriot”, saying in a statement that “the shadow state is trying to make President Trump public enemy number one for daring to challenge the corrupt ruling class in Washington.”

In a statement to AFP on Sunday, Donald Trump’s campaign spokesperson confirmed that “nearly $20 million [had] been raised in the past three weeks, coinciding with the indictment in Washington and the photo of forensic identification in Atlanta”. “$7.1 million since Thursday. $4.18 million just yesterday,” said Saturday, the biggest “one-day fundraiser of the entire campaign,” Cheung said.

AFP was unable to independently verify these claims on Sunday. On X (formerly Twitter), Steven Cheung urged media to “keep showing” the photo, including what he says is a higher definition version of the image. Mug shot t-shirts, mugs, stickers: Donald Trump’s campaign used the image to sell merchandise only hours after the photo was posted.

If such a photo could sound the death knell for the political ambitions of many other candidates, Donald Trump uses it to his advantage to present himself as a “hero”, the victim of persecution and a “witch hunt” orchestrated by Joe Biden’s Democrats. Democrats also used the photo, however, suggesting no one is above the law. Joe Biden himself quipped at the snap, telling reporters who asked him about it on Friday, “I saw it on TV. A handsome guy. »