During CNN’s live coverage of Trump’s motorcade to the Fulton County, Georgia jail for the former President’s booking on Erin Burnett OutFront, fill-in anchor Kaitlan Collins and correspondent Sara Murray fretted that Trump would use his new mugshot “to his political advantage” and fundraise off the photo to help his presidential campaign.
“Trump himself has been not downplaying this. I mean, he is certainly seeing how he uses these exact moments to his political advantage,” Collins kvetched.
Murray then jumped in to agree that Trump “uses these for fundraising, he uses these to rally his base.” Due to this, she openly regretted the plan to release Trump’s mugshot.
“That's one of the questions about this sort of value of a mug shot in this case. Right? It's, sure, it’s treating Donald Trump if he does get one, the same as any other defendant but you’re also giving him a photo that there’s no doubt that he's gonna use on promotional material, he’s gonna use on fundraising material,” Murray whined.
“I believe he made a fake mug shot in the past that he used for fundraising purposes. And I think that’s one of the things that's gone into consideration in his previous three arrests where he has not had a mug shot is do we really need to do this when we're talking about a former President of the United States? We know what he looks like,” she added.
Due to wall-to-wall coverage of Trump’s fourth arrest, there were no ad breaks. Head over to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page to see frequent CNN sponsors.
The transcript is below:
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
8/24/2023
7:34:31 p.m. EasternKAITLAN COLLINS: Trump himself has been not downplaying this. I mean, he is certainly seeing how he uses these exact moments to his political advantage, Sarah. I mean you covered it when he was in the White House as well. And he was posting today, what time he expected to be here. 7:30. Here it is 7:34 as he is arriving here.
SARA MURRAY: We love some timely guidance, I guess. Yeah, but he does use these. He uses these for fundraising, he uses these to rally his base. I mean that’s and that's one of the questions about this sort of value of a mug shot in this case. Right? It's, sure, it’s treating Donald Trump if he does get one, the same as any other defendant but you’re also giving him a photo that there’s no doubt that he's gonna use on promotional material, he’s gonna use on fundraising material. I believe he made a fake mug shot in the past that he used for fundraising purposes. And I think that’s one of the things that's gone into consideration in his previous three arrests where he has not had a mug shot is do we really need to do this when we're talking about a former President of the United States? We know what he looks like.
