March 31, 2023 Trump indictment news

History was made Thursday when former President Donald Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury.

It’s the first time that a current or former US president has been criminally charged.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment, sources told CNN, and his attorney said he plans to file “substantial” legal challenges. The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter and accused Democrats of targeting him politically.

Trump was bracing for an indictment as early as March 18, when he said in a social media post that he expected to be arrested within days. In his post, he appealed to his supporters for action, writing, “Protest, take our nation back.”

See photos of the days leading up to Trump’s indictment:

Former President Donald Trump will not accept a plea deal in the indictment brought by a Manhattan grand jury but does plan to file “substantial legal challenges” to the indictment, his attorney Joe Tacopina said.

“President Trump will not take a plea deal in this case. It’s not gonna happen,” Tacopina said in an interview with NBC News on Friday.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna make it to trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to … front before we get to that point,” Tacopina said when asked if he expects to take the case to trial.

Trump will “absolutely” voluntarily surrender to Manhattan law enforcement, the defense attorney said, adding the former president is “not going to hole up in Mar-a-Lago.”

Logistics are currently being worked, he said.

Meanwhile, Trump attorney Jim Trusty said Friday he expects that the former president’s legal team will file motions to dismiss his indictment before a trial could potentially get underway. 

“I would think in very short order, you’ll see a motion to dismiss — or several motions to dismiss — talking about this kind of impossible theory of stacking a federal crime into a state misdemeanor, statute of limitations issues and very importantly, the intent to defraud. That’s an element of these false record keeping charges. That’s just not present here,” Trusty told CNN This Morning. 

The lawyer said he did not know “about the exact timing” as there isn’t a case number yet but he noted that it will “be soon.”

“I think this will be something you can expect in days or weeks, not weeks or months,” he added.

Tacopina told Good Morning America that the former president “will not be put in handcuffs.”  

Responding to CNN reporting that Trump has been charged on more than 30 counts related to business fraud, Tacopina said he does not know the nature of the charges against Trump or how many there are, but added, “If it’s correct, it means they’ve taken each transaction, each check, each payment, each entry and made a separate charge.”

Tacopina said he does not know when the charges will be unsealed but suggested it “might likely be Tuesday.”

Alvin Bragg, a former New York state and federal prosecutor, drew national attention when he made history as the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office first Black district attorney. Now, he is back in the spotlight after a grand jury voted to indict Donald Trump after a yearslong investigation into the former president’s alleged role in a hush money scheme.

Bragg has remained tight-lipped on the details of the Trump probe, which he inherited from his predecessor, Cy Vance, who began the investigation when Trump was still in the White House.

Following news of his indictment, Trump claimed in a statement that it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

Bragg has aggressively pursued Trump and other progressive priorities so far in his tenure, including not prosecuting some low-level crimes and finding alternatives to incarceration.

Before Bragg’s swearing-in last year, he had already worked on cases related to Trump and other notable names in his role as a New York state chief deputy attorney general.

He said he had helped sue the Trump administration more than 100 times, as well as led a team that sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which resulted in the former president paying $2 million to a number of charities and the foundation’s dissolution.

Bragg also led the suit against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein and his company, which alleged a hostile work environment.

The Harvard-educated attorney previously served as an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, worked as a civil rights lawyer and as a professor and co-director of the New York Law School Racial Justice Project, where he represented family members of Eric Garner, who died in 2014 after being placed in an unauthorized chokehold by a then-police officer, in a lawsuit against the City of New York seeking information.

Read more about the Manhattan DA here.

The New York hush money payment investigation is not the only probe former President Donald Trump is facing.

Here’s an updated list of additional notable investigations, lawsuits and controversies:

Mar-a-Lago documents: Did Trump mishandle classified material?

Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Trump’s resort and into parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

The Justice Department investigation continues into whether documents from the Trump White House were illegally mishandled when they were taken to Mar-a-Lago in Florida after he left office. A federal grand jury has interviewed potential witnesses regarding how Trump handled the documents.

The National Archives, charged with collecting and sorting presidential material, has previously said that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Mar-a-Lago, including some classified records.

Any unauthorized retention or destruction of White House documents could violate a criminal law that prohibits the removal or destruction of official government records, legal experts told CNN.

2020 election and January 6: US Justice Department

Smith’s purview also includes the period after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden and leading up to the insurrection at the US Capitol.

As part of its investigation, the special counsel’s office has sought testimony from a number of key White House insiders, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Aspects of the Justice Department’s probe include the use of so-called fake electors from states that Trump falsely claimed he had won, such as Georgia and Arizona.

Trump has been fighting to keep former advisers from testifying about certain conversations, citing executive and attorney-client privileges to keep information confidential or slow down criminal investigators.

2020 election: Efforts to overturn Georgia results

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis oversaw a special grand jury investigating what Trump or his allies may have done in their efforts to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia.

Willis, a Democrat, is considering bringing conspiracy and racketeering charges, CNN’s Don Lemon reported Monday.

The probe was launched in 2021 following Trump’s call that January with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed the Republican to “find” votes to overturn the election results.

The grand jury issued a report – which remains mostly under seal – that found there was no widespread voter fraud in the state and also suggested perjury charges be considered against some people who testified.

Overall, the grand jury recommended charges against more than a dozen people, the foreperson said in interviews last month.

Read about other investigations here.

Following the Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump, it’s worth looking at the mechanics of what’s going on in the legal system and how the process that applies to everyone is being applied to Trump.

We spoke to Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor and author of the new book, “Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away With It,” for a refresher on how grand juries and indictments work. Part of our conversation, conducted by phone, is below:

Grand jury vs. trial jury

WOLF: What should we know about the difference between a grand jury and a trial jury?

HONIG: A grand jury decides to indict, meaning to charge a case. A trial jury determines guilt or non-guilt.

A grand jury is bigger, typically 23 members, and the prosecutor only needs the votes of a majority of a grand jury – as opposed to a trial jury, which has to be unanimous.

The standard of proof in a grand jury is lower than a trial jury. In a grand jury, you only have to show probable cause, meaning more likely than not. But of course in a trial setting, you need to show proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

The other thing to know is a grand jury is an almost entirely one-sided process.

Usually the only people allowed in the room at all are the grand jurors, the prosecutors, the witnesses and a court reporter.

In some instances, including New York, there’s a limited right of a potential defendant to present some evidence, but no defense lawyers are allowed in the room.

There’s no cross-examination of the prosecution’s evidence. There’s no presentation of defense evidence.

Close to every time a prosecutor seeks an indictment from a grand jury, he or she will get an indictment from the grand jury.

What is an indictment?

WOLF: How would you define “indictment”?

HONIG: It’s a document setting forth formal charges against the defendant.

Three Trump grand juries

WOLF: We have three grand juries that are top of mind – for election meddling in Georgia, at the federal level for declassified documents and then the Manhattan DA. How much variation is there in grand juries between city, county and federal?

HONIG: There are minor variations, but the basics remain the same.

Here’s an example of one of the minor variations in New York State, but not in the federal system, meaning for DOJ. The defendant does have some limited right to be notified and given a chance to testify or present defense evidence, which we saw play out with Trump and then him asking Robert Costello to testify.

That’s not the case federally. You do not have to give a defendant a chance to testify or present evidence. That’s one slight variation. But the basic fundamentals are the same.

Former President Donald Trump faces four different criminal investigations by three different levels of government – the Manhattan district attorney; the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney; and the Department of Justice.

Even though he has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury he can still run for president in 2024. Trump announced his candidacy in November.

“Nothing stops Trump from running while indicted, or even convicted,” Richard Hasen said, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Constitution requires only three things of candidates:

As a political matter, it’s maybe more difficult for an indicted candidate, who could become a convicted criminal, to win votes. Trials don’t let candidates put their best foot forward, but it is not forbidden for them to run or be elected.

There are a few asterisks both in the Constitution and the 14th and 22nd Amendments, none of which currently apply to Trump in the cases thought to be closest to formal indictment.

The indictment in New York City with regard to the hush-money payment to an adult film star has nothing to do with rebellion or insurrection. Nor do potential federal charges with regard to classified documents.

Potential charges in Fulton County, Georgia, with regard to 2020 election meddling or at the federal level with regard to the January 6, 2021, insurrection could perhaps be construed by some as a form of insurrection. But that is an open question that would have to work its way through the courts. The 2024 election is fast approaching.

Lanny Davis, the attorney for Michael Cohen, thinks the chance of a successful motion to dismiss former President Donald Trump’s indictment is “very small.”

“There’s so much factual dispute on the material issues,” Davis told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday night, responding comments by Trump attorney Jim Trusty. “A court doesn’t deprive a jury of making a decision. A motion to dismiss is a decision to deprive a trial by jury and that’s a very high standard as a lawyer. It’s very rare that a judge will deny a jury the right to decide factual disputes.”

Trusty had told Burnett there was a fundamental problem with the case, based on what has been learned through media reports, as it doesn’t have “an intent to defraud” as defined under New York state case law. “So you’re going to see very robust motions I think in the near future, a variety of motions, perhaps motions to dismiss that I think may take this away,” he said.

Some context: As CNN has reported, Cohen was a key player in the hush money scheme involving Stormy Daniels. The former Trump fixer facilitated the payments, made days before the 2016 presidential election, and was reimbursed by the Trump Organization for advancing the money to Daniels.

Cohen pleaded guilty to nine federal charges, including campaign finance violations, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Republican lawmakers and former elected officials have spoken out about former President Donald Trump’s historic indictment, many of them dismissing the allegations of misconduct as politically motivated.

Here are some of the officials from the former president’s party who spoke out Friday:

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin: Youngkin briefly chided Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over the grand jury’s indictment.

“This is the prosecutor who told everybody he was going to go do this in order to get elected,” the Republican governor told reporters in Virginia.

(Bragg ran as a reformer, and on the campaign trail he highlighted his prior work on lawsuits against the Trump administration.)

Youngkin had come to Trump’s defense on Twitter Thursday night, without mentioning the former president by name. He wrote it’s “beyond belief” that Bragg “indicted a former President and current presidential candidate for pure political gain.”

In his remarks Friday, Youngkin pivoted to a call for the US to “put this kind of politics down,” and said he is more concerned with helping Virginia residents than commenting further on divisive national narratives.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Murkowski warned in a statement to CNN against “rushing to individual judgment” on Trump’s indictment before hearing the evidence.

“I am monitoring Donald Trump’s legal situation as it unfolds. No one is above the law in this country, but everyone deserves a fair legal process. The indictment of a former President is unprecedented and must be handled with the utmost integrity and scrutiny,” she wrote. “Instead of rushing to individual judgment, we must also evaluate the evidence as it becomes available and use it to inform our opinions and statements about what is actually happening.” 

Former Attorney General Bill Barr: Barr, who served as attorney general under the Trump administration before stepping down over the former president’s election lies, called the indictment a “political hit job,” arguing that it’s a “weak case.”

“It’s the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function,” Barr said at the National Review Institute summit held in Washington, DC. “It’s a disgrace if it turns out what we think it is.”

Nonetheless, Barr said he believed it would be politically damaging to the Republican Party. He called it a “no-lose situation” for Democrats, allowing them to focus the run-up to the 2024 election on Trump, either handing him the nomination or leaving the eventual nominee with another scandal to deal with.

But “legally, I think, from what I understand, it’s a pathetically weak case,” he said.

Read more reactions from the GOP here.

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday cautioned House Republicans, who have threatened an investigation into the Manhattan district attorney, to “temper their inquiries” and not turn the case into an example of federal overreach in local affairs.

“I’m somebody who believes in federalism, and as wrong as this DA is, I have a check in my spirit about the federal government becoming involved in even wrongheaded local law enforcement or prosecutions,” he told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto in an interview. 
“And so I’d want our friends in the Congress to be judicious about that, careful about that. They can certainly ask questions, but at the end of the day, I think that this is a matter the American people see through, they see that politics is driving this decision.”

Pressed by Cavuto if he’s against Republicans’ requests for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to testify, Pence said: “Congress has every right to ask whatever questions that they want to ask.”

“But I think beginning with the premise that even bad decisions by state and local government are still an element of our federalism in the country,” he continued. “So I just want them to — I’d want them to temper their inquiries to respect federalism.”

What the GOP lawmakers are saying: Three House Republican leaders — House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer and House Administration Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil – sent a letter last week calling for Bragg’s testimony after former President Donald Trump warned he would be arrested.

The three chairmen accused the district attorney of conducting a politically motivated prosecution and wrote that they intend to investigate whether Bragg and his office used federal public safety funds as part of its grand jury investigation.

The grand jury indictment of former US President Donald Trump was a “vindication,” “monumental” and “epic,” adult film star Stormy Daniels told the British newspaper, The Times.

Daniels also said she received a torrent of abuse within hours of the indictment and that for the first time, she is scared.

“The number and the intensity is the same as it was the first time around, but this time it’s straight-up violent,” Daniels said in the interview published Friday.
“It’s especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it,” she added.

Daniels was supposed to appear on Britain’s TalkTV for an exclusive interview with host Piers Morgan Friday afternoon. Piers Morgan wrote on his official Twitter account that Daniels had to “suddenly postpone” the interview minutes before it was scheduled to begin due to “security issues.”

Former President Donald Trump is expected to walk down a hallway in view of media cameras on his way to a courtroom for his arraignment Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the planning. 

It is unclear whether any cameras will be permitted in the courtroom during the proceeding, prompted by a grand jury’s indictment this week. Judge Juan Merchan will ultimately decide on courtroom media rules, and he has historically denied media access requests in other high-profile cases, like the Trump Organization trial last year.

Merchan did allow still photographers in the courtroom, however, for the organization’s former CFO Allen Weisselberg’s sentencing in January. 

The 15th floor of 100 Centre Street, the courthouse where Trump will be arraigned, was closed to the public Friday, guarded by court officers. Guards will continue to secure it ahead of the proceeding Tuesday afternoon. 

Regularly scheduled jury proceedings will occur next week, but the floor where they are held will still technically be closed to the public.  

According to the source, these plans are fluid and could be changed.

The court building will have a 24-hour security presence through Tuesday, including the weekend, the source tells CNN.

Some Republican lawmakers are criticizing the Manhattan grand jury’s Thursday indictment of Donald Trump. Here’s what they’re saying:

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of Senate GOP leadership, told CNN the Trump indictment “looks to me like this is an opportunity for this [district attorney] to try to make headlines and gain publicity.”

Rep. James Comer: The House Oversight Chairman attacked the “political witch-hunt” of former President Donald Trump the day after he was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“One thing that we’re concerned about in Washington, Congressman Jordan and myself, is if there is coordination being conducted here between Merrick Garland, DOJ and all these different entities that are going after Donald Trump,” Comer told Fox on Friday. “This is a political witch-hunt, they are doing everything in their ability to create a narrative that would hurt Donald Trump.”

Comer told CNN that Bragg’s investigation “a political stunt.”

Before the indictment, Comer and two other House Chairman sent a letter requesting testimony and information from Bragg on his investigation. 

Sen. John Barrasso: The Senate GOP Conference Chairman called the indictment a “political hit job” in a statement to CNN. 

“This is a politically-motivated prosecution by a far-left activist. If it was anyone other than President Trump, a case like this would never be brought. Instead of ordering political hit jobs, New York prosecutors should focus on getting violent criminals off the streets,” he said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: The key Trump ally, who is also close to House GOP leadership, tweeted that she plans on traveling to New York City on Tuesday to protest Donald Trump’s indictment – the latest sign of how Republicans are racing to defend the former president.

Greene serves on the House Oversight Committee, one of the key committees trying to investigate the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and told CNN she regularly keeps Trump up to date on their investigative priorities.

Rep. Mike Johnson: Johnson, a member of House Republican leadership, attacked Bragg and said the indictment “all but ensured” former President Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.

“The person denigrating integrity, the integrity of our entire judicial system is Alvin Bragg, this Soros-funded political activist who is occupying the Manhattan DA’s office,” said Johnson on Fox News on Friday. “He’s spending all his time and resources going after the former President. Why? The timing is important, because the President has announced he is running again.”

The indictment has “ensured” that Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee “and likely get reelection” in 2024, Johnson added.

Rep. Barry Moore, a conservative Republican who has endorsed Trump, defended Republicans who have attacked Bragg before seeing any evidence against Trump. Moore said the indictment “smells pretty fishy.”

Asked if he would consider re-evaluating after seeing evidence, Moore replied, “I’m open to thinking that. But I’m in the garbage business, you know, and so a lot of times, I know how to spot a pile of garbage, and this thing looks like a pile of garbage.”

He predicted that the indictment could actually help Trump’s presidential chances. Moore himself was indicted and eventually found not guilty on perjury charges in 2014, when he was a member of the Alabama State House.

“After I was indicted, that weekend, we had more people knock doors than any time in our campaign,” he added. “… We did, because the people saw it for what it was. I think the American people see this for what it is.”

Read more reactions here.

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been in contact with former President Donald Trump since he was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

CNN previously reported that Trump had been calling up allies, including members of GOP leadership and key committee members, to shore up support on Capitol Hill in the wake of his indictment, and he has told them he plans to fight the charges. 

Stefanik, the number-four House Republican, continues to be the highest-ranking House Republican to endorse Trump for his 2024 presidential bid and has been a key ally to the former president. At the House GOP retreat in Florida, Stefanik – who serves on a subcommittee on the alleged “weaponization” of the federal government — revealed she spoke to Trump and briefed him on the House GOP’s plans to aggressively investigate the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Former President Donald Trump’s indictment by a New York grand jury has thrust the nation into uncharted political, legal and historical waters, and raised a slew of questions about how the criminal case will unfold.

If you are just reading in on this Friday afternoon, here’s what you need to know:

What’s the indictment for and when will he appear in court? Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in the indictment, CNN has reported. It remains under seal, meaning the exact charges are not yet public. The former president is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court next Tuesday, around 2:15 p.m. ET, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell CNN, although the timing remains fluid.

The investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office began when Trump was still in the White House and relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

Which charges are possibly at play? A target in the probe has been the payment made to Daniels and the Trump Organization’s reimbursement to Cohen.

Hush money payments aren’t illegal, but ahead of the indictment, prosecutors were weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying the business records of the Trump Organization for how it reflected the reimbursement of the payment to Cohen, who said he advanced the money to Daniels. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York.

Prosecutors were also weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree for falsifying a record with the intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal another crime, which in this case could be a violation of campaign finance laws. That is a Class E felony. It carries a minimum sentence of one year and a maximum of four years. To prove the case, prosecutors would need to show Trump intended to commit a crime.

What comes next for Trump? The former president had first been asked to surrender Friday in New York, his lawyer said, but his defense said more time was needed and he’s expected in court Tuesday.

As for the former president’s initial court appearance: It’ll look, in some ways, like that of any other defendant. In others, it will look very different.

How did Trump respond? Trump was caught off guard by the grand jury’s decision to indict him, according to a person who spoke directly with him. While the former president was bracing for an indictment last week, he began to believe news reports that a potential indictment was weeks – or more – away.

The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter and continued his attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other Democrats following news of the indictment.

The judge overseeing the case against former President Donald Trump signed off on an order Thursday which granted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request to publicly disclose an indictment — currently under seal — that was returned by a grand jury earlier in the day against former President Donald Trump.

The court ordered district attorney authorization to disclose the grand jury decision “upon a finding that this disclosure to the public that the grand jury has returned a true bill in the above captioned case and that said indictment has been filed with the Court would be in the public interest and an appropriate exercise of this Court’s discretion,” according to the document.

The filing reading — The People of the State of New York, against Donald J. Trump – is among the first to be unsealed in the case as the public awaits the unsealing of the indictment.

In an Instagram Story on Friday morning, Ivanka Trump – who has remained largely silent in political matters concerning her father in the fallout of the 2020 election – expressed gratitude to people “across the political spectrum expressing support and concern” over former President Donald Trump’s indictment.

“I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern,” she posted.

Ivanka Trump was a senior adviser in the Trump administration during his presidency.

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, called the indictment “troubling” during an appearance at the FII Institute’s Priority Summit in Miami Beach on Friday. 

“I think what was announced last night was also very unprecedented. And as an American, it’s very troubling to me to see the leader of the opposition party be indicted,” Kushner said, according to video posted by Bloomberg News. 

“And I think that that shows, obviously, the fear that the Democrats have of Trump and the political strength that he has,” Kushner continued. “And just as a family member, obviously, Ivanka and I love him very much. It’s been hard to watch the opponents of him politically continue to break every norm over the last years to try to – to try to get him, and you know we’ve seen them accuse him of colluding with Russia, we saw them impeach him, we saw them raid his home. And all this is a continuation of that.” 

Kushner, who served in the White House during Trump’s administration, added that “what I’ll say is I’ve been by him during a lot of these instances, and it’s only made him stronger – and his resolve to take on big challenges, to fight for change, to fight for the American people, has only gotten stronger.”

Like his wife, Kushner is not involved in his 2024 campaign and has largely steered clear of political matters tied to the former president since he left office.

The US Secret Service hasn’t played a role in the negotiations between the Trump lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney over former President Donald Trump’s Tuesday court appearance, a person briefed on the matter said.

The Secret Service has limited its involvement to coordinating security arrangements, which have been in the works for weeks. 

The agency is using its standard protocols, which means Secret Service employees will test the magnetometers at the courthouse to ensure they are up to Secret Service standards. 

The plans, which have already been worked out, include Secret Service employees at the magnetometers before Trump arrives. They will enforce distance requirements to make sure no one comes close to the former president. His detail will be with him as he is processed, fingerprinted and photographed for mug shots.

At this point, the former president isn’t expected to be handcuffed as he will be surrounded by armed federal agents for his protection.  

Former President Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court around 2:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell CNN.

Officials involved in the planning of Trump’s appearance are considering pausing all other case activity at the court during the time that the former president is expected to appear, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.

An adjournment of all other matters at the courthouse Tuesday afternoon would reduce the amount of foot traffic in the building for security reasons, the source said.

Former President Donald Trump will travel to New York on Monday before his arraignment in the Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday, two sources familiar with his plans tell CNN. 

Trump will remain at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate, over the weekend.

Former President Donald Trump lashed out online at the judge he is expected to appear before Tuesday, accusing Judge Juan Merchan of “railroading” former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg in a previous case.

Calling the allegations against him a “Witch Hunt Case,” Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that the judge “HATES” him.

Merchan is the “same person who ‘railroaded’ my 75 year old former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, to take a ‘plea’ deal,” Trump wrote.

“He strong armed Allen, which a judge is not allowed to do, & treated my companies, which didn’t ‘plead,’ VICIOUSLY,” the former president added.

Some context: Merchan oversaw the criminal tax fraud case against Weisselberg and two Trump Organization entities. Weisselberg pleaded guilty and Merchan approved his plea deal, under which Weisselberg would serve five months in jail if he pleaded guilty to 15 felonies and testified truthfully at the trial of the Trump companies. Weisselberg is expected to be released from Rikers Island next month.

The judge warned Weisselberg at his guilty pleas that he could face up to 15 years in prison if he deviated from this agreement.

At sentencing, Merchan said he found it “offensive” that Weisselberg fabricated a paycheck so his wife could receive federal benefits and wished he could have sentenced him to “a much greater” sentence.

During the investigation, the judge held the Trump entities in criminal contempt and fined them $4,000 for failing to comply with multiple grand jury subpoenas. The judge kept his ruling under seal until after the verdict so it wouldn’t prejudice the case. The Trump entities were found guilty of multiple counts of tax fraud and falsifying business records. The judge handed down the maximum sentence, a fine of $1.6 million. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday called the indictment of former President Donald Trump an “outrage” and a “political prosecution” – echoing his first comments about the matter on CNN last night.

“The unprecedented indictment of the former president of the United States for a campaign finance issue is an outrage, and I think it’s clear to the overwhelming majority of American people that this is nothing short of a political prosecution,” Pence said at a National Review Institute summit in Washington, DC. 

“Every American deserves equal treatment under the law, and I believe the American people will see this for what it is,” he said.

Pence argued that the indictment will “only serve to further divide our country” when the US is “facing large intractable challenges at home and abroad,” calling for Americans to find ways to come together.

He said that in traveling the country, “nobody” brought up the different legal investigations surrounding Trump – dismissing it as “drama that is an obsession of much of the national media.”

Pence said that the key for Republican leaders is to “not to be preoccupied on these issues but to continue to focus on the real challenge facing the American people at home and abroad, and ensure that we elect leadership that will turn this country back to common-sense conservative principles in 2024.”

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03:41 - Source: cnn

A Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump will set in motion a criminal process that will in some ways work like that of any other defendant, and in other ways, look very different.

The charges that the grand jury approved against Trump are currently not public, but here’s a look at expected next steps now that there is an indictment:

The Manhattan district attorney’s office does not expect to seek to unseal the indictment of former President Donald Trump before his arraignment in New York on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Because the filing is under seal and would require a court order to unseal it, prosecutors are not expected to share a copy of the indictment with Trump before the Tuesday court hearing, the source said.

Trump’s legal team also does not expect to obtain or seek to unseal the indictment ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, another source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The top two Senate Republicans have remained silent after the news that former President Donald Trump had been indicted by a New York grand jury.

The silence from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Thune underscores the divide within the GOP party over the former president. McConnell and Thune have made no secret about their desire to move past Trump.

Meanwhile, House Republican leaders were quick to jump to defend Thursday night when the news broke. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has credited Trump for helping him win the speakership on the 15th ballot this year, attacked the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

House Republicans have launched an investigation into Bragg’s probe, but Senate GOP Leaders have declined to embrace that effort.  

CNN’s Ali Zaslav contributed to this report

The press secretary for New York City Mayor Eric Adams says there are no credible threats to the city at this time following the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump.

The mayor remains in “constant contact” with the NYPD commissioner about all public safety issues, press secretary Fabien Levy tells CNN.

“The NYPD continues to monitor all activity and there are no credible threats to the city at this time,” he said. “The NYPD always remains prepared to respond to events happening on the ground and keep New Yorkers safe.”

Members of the Secret Service are meeting Friday with officials from the New York Police Department (NYPD), the District Attorney’s investigators as well as court officers to go over the logistics of the historic arraignment for former President Donald Trump that is currently set for Tuesday, April 4, according to law enforcement sources.

These officials will conduct a walk-through of Trump’s movements, starting with his motorcade, followed by the arrest process, which includes how he will be fingerprinted, his mug shot and then how they will get him to the courtroom for his arraignment, according to the same law enforcement sources.

In addition, law enforcement sources also say authorities are monitoring social media and assessing threats that are being posted against law enforcement, the Manhattan District Attorney Bragg, and his staff. They are also monitoring plans for protests and disorder.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is again criticizing House Republicans for their efforts to intervene in its investigation into former President Donald Trump, accusing them of collaborating with Trump to “vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges.”

The district attorney’s general counsel Leslie B. Dubeck penned a letter Friday to three House GOP committee chairmen, citing Trump’s harsh rhetoric aimed at District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“As Committee Chairmen, you could use the stature of your office to denounce these attacks and urge respect for the fairness of our justice system and for the work of the impartial grand jury,” she wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Reps. Jim Jordan, Bryan Steil and James Comer.

“Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation, conducted via an independent grand jury of average citizens serving New York State, is politically motivated,” Dubeck continued.

Dubeck’s letter called on House Republicans to withdraw their demand for information, accusing them of launching their investigation for political purposes to defend Trump. The chairmen launched an investigation into the Manhattan district attorney shortly after Trump warned he would soon be arrested. 

Claiming the committees lack jurisdiction to oversee their state prosecution and discrediting any valid legislative purpose to their inquiry, Dubeck cited CNN reporting to claim that “it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective.”

In response to the House GOP’s inquiries into how federal funds were used in the probe, Dubeck disclosed that approximately $5,000 was spent “on expenses incurred relating to the investigation of Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization” between October 2019 and August 2021, adding that the money came from “federal forfeiture money that the Office helped collect” and most of the costs had to do with Supreme Court litigation. The letter said that no federal grant money was used toward expenses in the Trump investigation. 

Dubeck also included details about the three federal grant programs the office participates in regarding its casework and shared that “no expenses incurred relating to this matter have been paid from funds that the Office receives through federal grant programs.”

Dubeck wrote that if the chairmen are not willing to call off their inquiry, the DA’s office is still willing to meet.

“If you will not withdraw your request, we reiterate our willingness to meet and confer with you or your staff about how we can accommodate your request without violating our obligations as prosecutors to protect the integrity of an ongoing criminal prosecution,” according to the letter.

President Joe Biden repeatedly declined to comment on the indictment of former President Donald Trump as he departed the White House this morning.

Remember: There has been no statement from Biden following the news of the indictment. No comment came from the White House and there is little evidence that public posture will change any time soon, even as officials acknowledge they will be closely monitoring any security issues that may develop.

“He’s the president, not a legal analyst,” one Democrat in regular contact with the White House said. “He has an administration to run.”

Biden’s initial silence in the wake of Trump’s indictment isn’t a surprise. While officials inside the West Wing were as surprised as the rest of the country by the news, there was no scramble to prepare anything to release publicly.

Instead, Biden faces a convergence of two clear, if unofficial, animating principles of his first two years in office: don’t engage in ongoing legal cases and don’t get distracted by issues that don’t have a tangible effect on Americans.

The approach is designed, at least in part, to keep the administration’s focus on its priorities and agenda. But the unmistakably clear contrast it creates with Biden’s predecessor is neither subtle nor unintentional as a political message.

Read more here.

In the wake of a Manhattan grand jury’s historic decision to indict Donald Trump, the former president and some other prominent Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have invoked liberal billionaire George Soros in their attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump claimed in a statement that Bragg was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros.”

Soros, a longtime supporter of Democratic campaigns, various liberal causes and prosecutors who favor criminal justice reform, has been a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories painting the Jewish philanthropist as a puppetmaster behind various US and international events.

Here are the facts:

Donations to a PAC that supported Bragg

Bragg — a graduate of Harvard Law School, a former federal prosecutor and a former chief deputy attorney general for New York state — won the race for Manhattan district attorney in 2021, and his campaign was supported by the political action committee affiliated with Color of Change, a nonprofit advocacy group – co-founded in 2005 by Van Jones, who later became a CNN commentator – that promotes criminal justice reform among other racial justice causes. The Color of Change PAC, which has backed progressive district attorney candidates around the country, spent slightly over $500,000 supporting Bragg, Color of Change president and PAC spokesperson Rashad Robinson told CNN last week.

The Color of Change PAC has received significant funding from Soros, who has for years been a vocal advocate of criminal justice reform and of progressive district attorney candidates. Soros was the PAC’s biggest donor in the 2021-2022 period, PolitiFact has reported.

Soros spokesperson Michael Vachon told CNN last week: “Between 2016 and 2022, George Soros personally and Democracy PAC (a PAC to which Mr. Soros has contributed funds) have together contributed roughly $4 million to Color of Change’s PAC, including $1 million in May 2021. None of those funds were earmarked for Alvin Bragg’s campaign. George Soros and Alvin Bragg have never meet in person or spoken by telephone, email, Zoom etc. There has been no contact between the two.”

In addition to these donations to the PAC, CNBC reported that another Soros organization, the Open Society Policy Center, gave the main Color of Change nonprofit $7 million in 2021. Open Society spokesperson Thomas Watson told CNN in an email last week that the funding was a five-year grant and part of a publicly announced $220 million investment in racial justice efforts focused on Black-led organizations; Watson said the grant was “in support of (Color of Change’s) social welfare activities, and not earmarked for any specific work. The grant agreement stipulates, among other restrictions, that no OSPC funding can be used for partisan or political activities.”

As PolitiFact has noted, Soros’s son, Jonathan Soros, and Jonathan’s wife, Jennifer Allan Soros, each made $10,000 donations to Bragg’s campaign during the Democratic primary in April 2021. They had made smaller donations, totaling $450, earlier in the year.

Color of Change president says attacks are ‘antisemitic’ and ‘anti-Black’

Robinson said that attacks suggesting Bragg is a puppet of Soros, because of George Soros’s donations to the Color of Change PAC, are not only “antisemitic” but also “anti-Black.”

He said the attack is premised on the idea that “Black people are so incapable of having their own ideas about how to fight for justice” that the Black-led PAC could not have come up with its own strategies.

The ‘$1 million’ figure is exaggerated

Trump claimed last week that Soros spent more than $1 million on Bragg’s campaign, but that figure is inaccurate.

The Color of Change PAC did announce in May 2021, the month that Soros made a $1 million donation to the PAC, that it was planning to spend over $1 million on an independent expenditure campaign in support of Bragg’s candidacy. But the PAC paused the pro-Bragg spending after hearing an uncorroborated allegation against Bragg that it was not able to thoroughly investigate at the time because of legal restrictions on PACs communicating with candidates, Robinson said. It ended up spending about half of what it had planned, Robinson said, and kept the rest of Soros’s donation for other uses.

“Soros didn’t give us money to give to Alvin Bragg. Soros made a donation to Color of Change,” Robinson said.

Former President Donald Trump was initially asked to turn himself in to authorities in New York today — the day after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict him, his defense lawyer Joe Tacopina says.

Tacopina says he’s surprised by the timing of the indictment and that more time is needed, as the Secret Service that protects the former president needs to coordinate his surrender in New York.

The potential 2024 Republican primary field quickly coalesced on Thursday around a strategy for responding to former President Donald Trump’s indictment: Attack Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor, but stop short of praising Trump.

If the news of the former president facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud was unprecedented, the reaction from his possible GOP rivals was, in large part, familiar. Rather than risk the backlash from base voters loyal to Trump, ambitious Republicans zeroed in on a liberal foe. It’s a tactic that underscores the former president’s hold over the Republican Party – even when under indictment.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely viewed as Trump’s most formidable potential Republican opponent, did not mention the former president in his response, instead going after “the Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney” – a reference to the billionaire liberal donor George Soros often at the center of conservative conspiracy theories.

“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American,” DeSantis tweeted. “The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.”

DeSantis also reiterated that he would not “assist in an extradition request” for Trump, a Florida resident. Trump is expected to appear in court on Tuesday in New York, where he had lived most of his life.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, for years one of Trump’s most ardent defenders before offering some measured criticism after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, called the indictment of his former boss “an outrage” and suggested that Bragg was politically motivated.

Pressed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who noted that a grand jury voted to charge Trump, Pence doubled down.

“But when you have an attorney general in New York, a Manhattan DA, that targeted one particular American in their campaigns, I think that offends the notion of the overwhelming majority of the American people who believe in fairness, who believe in equal treatment before the law,” he told Blitzer in an interview Thursday evening.

Bragg already had some name recognition among Republicans who sought to tie his progressive positions on criminal justice – in a city they often depict as being besieged by violent crime – to national Democrats like President Joe Biden. In the run-up to the indictment and then in its immediate aftermath, even those Republicans who have been more willing to criticize Trump denounced Bragg’s investigation as a political stunt or an abuse of power.

Read more here.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig explains the hush money payment scheme and how it is connected to the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Watch:

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The unprecedented news of former President Donald Trump’s indictment sent convulsions through the media landscape, with outlets like CNN quickly shifting into breaking news mode and devoting hours of programming to wall-to-wall coverage on the major development.

But on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, which had given the former president the cold shoulder since the January 6 attack, the network quickly pivoted into a stance reminiscent of years past: defending Trump at any cost and portraying the legal system as a deep-state, corrupt force in American society.

“Third world tactics.”

“Police state.”

“Political persecution and election interference.”

That’s just a tiny taste of some of the extreme rhetoric that aired Thursday night on Fox News, where Murdoch’s stable of right-wing hosts and commentators painted an ugly portrait of America, one in which supposedly George Soros-controlled prosecutors target conservatives in an unjust manner for the sole purpose of destroying opponents of the Democratic Party.

It came despite the relationship between Murdoch and Trump being on the rocks as of late.

Trump bashed Murdoch earlier this month as a “MAGA Hating Globalist RINO” and accused him of “aiding & abetting the DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA.” And, recently revealed messages Murdoch sent in the aftermath of the 2020 election showed that the right-wing media mogul believed that Trump was a danger to the country.

And yet, Murdoch allowed the incendiary pro-Trump rhetoric to grip his network on Thursday night.

Watching Fox News felt like being taken back in time to another era. It was evocative of the days in which hosts like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson assailed Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and the impeachment trials.

If there was any doubt that Fox News might not offer a full-throated defense of Trump today, given the disgraced Republican’s shaky relationship with Murdoch, that has been erased.

And Fox News isn’t the only outlet in Murdoch’s empire rushing to defend Trump. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which is known to echo Murdoch’s personal views, published a piece calling Trump’s indictment a “sad day for the country.” The editorial suggested that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had carried out the action for political purposes.

The New York Post also appeared in Trump’s corner. The outlet’s website prominently featured a story saying Bragg “has a bad case of bias,” among other Trump-friendly articles.

I texted Murdoch on Thursday night asking how one could square his behind-the-scenes rhetoric, brought to light by Dominion Voting Systems’ case against Fox News, with the narrative his outlets were pushing. I didn’t get an answer.

But perhaps the messages released in the Dominion case, showing network leaders were terrified its audience would change the channel over its scrutiny of Trump, can offer us a good clue. He is almost certainly looking after his bottom line.

As Murdoch said, “Everything at stake here.”

The indictment of former US President Donald Trump is an “internal” matter for the United States and not a matter that Russia will comment on, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday during a regular call with journalists. 

“I do not think that this is a topic for any of our comments. These are internal American processes that we do not consider it necessary to comment on in any way,” Peskov said. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during a CNN Primetime interview and reacted to the news of the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump. Here’s a recap of everything he said:

On the indictment:

“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,” he said Thursday night.

The indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution,” he added.

Charging the former president is a “disservice to the country” that will only divide people further, Pence added. “I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country,” he said.

Pence said that while “no one is above the law, including former presidents,” he cannot “speak to the merit of this case at all.”

On considering to run for president in 2024.

Notably, Pence said while considering the decision to launch a presidential run, the New York grand jury’s decision to indict Trump has “no bearing on our decision.”

He said for his family it comes down “to our sense of calling” and that he intends to continue to travel around the country and listen to Americans.

On Trump raising the possibility of “death and destruction.”

Last week, Trump raised the possibility of “death (and) destruction” if he were indicted. Pence rebuked the comments.

”There’s no excuse for that kind of rhetoric on either side of this debate,” Pence said. “And there’s really no reason to be calling for people to be protesting over it as well.”

The first-ever criminal indictment of a former American president creates a uniquely perilous moment for a polarized republic already repeatedly driven to the brink by the endless norm-busting of Donald Trump.

The prosecution of the 45th president – and his attempts to inflame a partisan firestorm to protect himself – are likely to consume America’s already poisoned politics, threaten to rock yet another presidential election and may pose the most critical challenge yet to its system of justice.

It is the latest stunning barrier shattered by the nation’s most unruly president. And it means that after a tumultuous four-year term, a historic two impeachments, an election falsely tainted by Trump’s lies about fraud and a mob attack by his supporters on Congress, a new national nightmare may be ahead.

There is nothing in American history that approaches the tumult of the charging and possible trial and conviction of a former president – especially since Trump and his supporters are already claiming that the indictment represents the weaponized politicization of the justice system.

Given the extreme national political estrangement exacerbated by Trump, this case is likely to leave the country changed however it turns out. There will be fears, for instance, that it will crush one of the last remaining precedents for political restraint and leave future presidents vulnerable to prosecution in a manner more akin to fragile failing states than the world’s most vital democracy. Yet at the same time, if Trump has indeed committed crimes, a failure to pursue him would send a message that the powerful can get away with behavior that ordinary Americans cannot.

The move was especially stunning given Trump’s long record of impunity, which has seen him constantly stretch the limits of the law and the conventions of accepted behavior with his uproarious personal, business and political careers. Suddenly, Trump’s decades of evading accountability will end. The former president will have to start answering for his conduct, likely beginning in court on Tuesday after he travels to New York to be arraigned in what will be a high-security spectacle given his past incitement of violence.

Trump insists he is innocent of all allegations, in this case as well as in several others that may pose even greater legal peril, including special counsel investigations into his hoarding of classified documents and his conduct around the 2020 election and a separate Georgia investigation into his bid to steal the election in the swing state.

The ex-president quickly showed he’s ready to drive the country into a deep political crisis as he mounts his defense with wild claims of persecution. He accused Democrats of weaponizing justice to thwart his 2024 White House bid – a claim that threatens to shatter the credibility of the next election in the eyes of millions of his followers and further damage US democracy.

“This is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before,” Trump wrote in block capitals on his Truth Social network. “It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third world nation, a nation in serious decline. So sad!”

Like all Americans accused of crimes, Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence and his full rights under the Constitution, which he tried to overturn on January, 6, 2021. The perception of this extraordinary case will turn on two questions fundamental to the credibility of American justice: Are all citizens – even the most powerful, like former presidents and White House candidates – considered equal under the law? Or is Trump being singled out because of who he is?

The indictment voted by the grand jury remains under seal, so the exact charges and the extent of evidence against him remain unclear. But many legal experts have questioned whether a case possibly alleging fraudulent accounting and subsequent infringements of election law would rise to the magnitude that might justify the nation-shaking act of indicting a former president and frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination. Some observers have warned against a case that might rely heavily on the testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who made the payments to Stormy Daniels and has already served a jail sentence for charges that included lying to Congress.

Even if there is plentiful evidence that makes this a relatively simple sell to a jury, the fame and the power of the defendant means the case will unfold in a court of public opinion. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is under enormous pressure since if he fails to secure a conviction, he will be accused even more than he already is of building a politicized case that could tear gaping new divides in the country.

Donald Trump has called key allies on Capitol Hill to shore up support in the wake of his indictment, including members of House GOP leadership and lawmakers who serve on the committees that are trying to investigate the Manhattan District’s Attorney Office, according to a senior GOP source familiar with the conversations.

In the phone calls Thursday, which the source described as “check-ins,” the former president told allies he plans to fight the charges and continued to rail against the indictment and District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Former President Donald Trump responded Thursday after a grand jury voted to indict him with a statement, calling it “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history. From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats — the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country — have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference. 

“Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done. The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.

“Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!

“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party — united and strong — will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump also posted on Truth Social saying in all caps that the indictment “is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before. It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections.”

There has been no statement from President Joe Biden following the news of former President Donald Trump’s indictment.

No comment came from the White House and there is little evidence that public posture will change any time soon, even as officials acknowledge they will be closely monitoring any security issues that may develop.

“He’s the president, not a legal analyst,” one Democrat in regular contact with the White House said. “He has an administration to run.”

Biden’s initial silence in the wake of Trump’s indictment isn’t a surprise. While officials inside the West Wing were as surprised as the rest of the country by the news, there was no scramble to prepare anything to release publicly.

Instead, Biden faces a convergence of two clear, if unofficial, animating principles of his first two years in office: don’t engage in ongoing legal cases and don’t get distracted by issues that don’t have a tangible effect on Americans.
The approach is designed, at least in part, to keep the administration’s focus on its priorities and agenda. But the unmistakably clear contrast it creates with Biden’s predecessor is neither subtle nor unintentional as a political message.

For Biden, who pledged to bring down the political pressure that threatened to fracture the country under Trump’s watch, it’s a strategy that will now be tested by a new front in the partisan warfare that has animated Trump’s campaigns and presidency.

If there’s anything that would draw a proactive response from Biden, one official said in the days before the indictment, it would be concern about violence in its aftermath. But officials maintain there have still been no briefings or warnings that suggest the threat of violence is imminent, despite Trump’s social media posts over the last two weeks.

“We’re constantly monitoring this – as you would think we should, particularly in the wake of what happened on January 6,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters last week.

Officials declined to provide a window into how Biden heard of the indictment news, or what he was doing in the hours after. It was already clear there would be no opportunity for reporters to ask him directly.

The White House had issued a “lid” – the notice to reporters there would be nothing more from Biden on Thursday – more than an hour before the news broke.

Former Vice President Mike Pence called the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump an “outrage.”

He said the indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution.”

Pence said charging the former president is a “disservice to the country” that will only divide people further.

“I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country,” he said.

A Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump will set in motion a criminal process that will in some ways work like that of any other defendant, and in other ways, look very different.

When someone is indicted, the charges are sometimes kept under seal until the defendant’s first appearance in court. The charges that the grand jury approved against Trump are currently not public.

“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

First appearance: First appearances are usually public proceedings. In some cases, arrangements are made with defendants or their lawyers for a self-surrender – or voluntarily turning themselves in – to law enforcement.

With their first appearance in court, defendants are usually booked and finger-printed.

Trump’s attorneys were informed of the grand jury’s vote shortly after the indictment was publicly reported, sources told CNN.

Trump will likely be allowed to turn himself in voluntarily, and multiple sources told CNN the former president is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment.

What happens in a first appearance can vary. If a first appearance is also an arraignment, a plea is expected to be entered. It is typical that release conditions are discussed – such as travel restrictions or home confinement – at a first appearance and defendants are informed of their rights. The lawyers for the government and the defendant also often enter their appearance at this stage of the court proceedings.

Additional security: Trump will have to go through certain processes that any other defendant must go through when a charge has been brought against him. But his status as a former president who is currently running again for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 will undoubtedly inject additional security and practical concerns around the next steps in his case.

Whatever travel Trump must take for his arraignment will need to be coordinated with Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies.

Those conversations between the Secret Service, the US Marshals Service and the New York Police Department have begun, a senior NYPD source told CNN.

NYPD officers were told Thursday evening via internal memo that they should be in uniform and ready for deployment on Friday.

CNN’s Kara Scannell, Paula Reid, Lauren DelValle, Shimon Prokupecz, Brynn Gingras and Evan Perez contributed to this reporting.

Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.

The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.

The DA’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reach out to Trump’s attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.

The decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.

Trump released a statement in response to the indictment claiming it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement that Trump “is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated.”

Read more about the indictment here.

A yearslong probe into a hush money scheme involving former President Donald Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels has led to him being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his alleged role in the scheme.

The indictment is historic, marking the first time a former US president and major presidential candidate has ever been criminally charged.

Here’s what to know about the hush money investigation:

What happens next: A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a statement Thursday saying the office has contacted Trump’s attorney to “coordinate his surrender” for arraignment on “a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal.”

“Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” it added. Trump is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment, multiple sources tell CNN. Judge Juan Merchan is expected to preside, one source said. 

How we got here: The Manhattan DA’s investigation first began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance, when Trump was still in the White House. It relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

At issue in the investigation is the payment made to Daniels and the Trump Organization’s reimbursement to Cohen.

According to court filings in Cohen’s own federal prosecution, Trump Org. executives authorized payments to him totaling $420,000 to cover his original $130,000 payment and tax liabilities and reward him with a bonus.

The Manhattan DA’s investigation has hung over Trump since his presidency and is just one of several probes the former president is facing as he makes his third bid for the White House.

A rare case: The grand jury’s decision marks a rare moment in history: Trump is the first former US president ever indicted and also the first major presidential candidate under indictment seeking office. The former president has said he “wouldn’t even think about leaving” the 2024 race if charged.

The decision to bring charges is not without risk nor does it guarantee a conviction. Trump’s lawyers could challenge whether campaign finance laws would apply as a crime to make the case a felony, for instance.

Cohen’s role: Cohen, Trump’s onetime fixer, played a central role in the hush money episode and is involved in the investigation.

He admitted to paying $130,000 to Daniels to stop her from going public about the alleged affair with Trump just before the 2016 election. He also helped arrange a $150,000 payment from the publisher of the National Enquirer to Karen McDougal to kill her story claiming a 10-month affair with Trump. Trump also denies an affair with McDougal.

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in jail, met with the Manhattan district attorney’s office earlier this month and praised Bragg for offering Trump the opportunity to testify.

What Daniels has said: For her part, Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, met in March with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office probing the payment, according to a tweet sent by her attorney, who said Daniels had “responded to questions and has agreed to make herself available as a witness, or for further inquiry if needed.” 

She wrote a tell-all book in 2018 that described the alleged affair in graphic detail, with her then-attorney saying that the book was intended to prove her story about having sex with Trump is true.

Read more about the investigation here.