Former Atlanta mayor says she saw ‘hatred’ in crowd of Trump supporters

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) said she saw “hatred” in a crowd of former President Trump’s supporters gathered outside the Fulton County, Ga., jail Thursday when she arrived for an interview with CNN ahead of Trump’s surrender.

Bottoms said the crowd mistook her for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — whose years-long investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia culminated last week in charges against Trump and 18 others — and began chanting “Lock her up” at the former Atlanta mayor.

“Just walking through the crowd, there was a lot of hatred out here,” Bottoms told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, as the network showed the former president’s plane landing in the Peach State. “They thought that I was Fani Willis. Imagine that. A lot of hatred and really bad energy out here.” 

Trump surrendered at the Fulton County jail Thursday evening and became the first U.S. president to have his mug shot taken. Despite having been booked in three previous indictments, the Georgia election interference case was the first to require Trump to take a mug shot.

While Bottoms noted the “hatred” in the crowd at the jail Thursday, she also emphasized that “you don’t get to pick and choose your good days and your bad days” as a public servant.

“There are tough days that come with these jobs,” she said. “I don’t think that anybody wants to be subjected to threats. But, that being said, it’s part of the job.” 

“And if we give in to that, then who are we as a country?” Bottoms continued. “That people don’t serve because they fear for their lives? I mean, that’s a threat to our democracy in and of itself.”