Donald Trump indictment: former US president becomes first to face criminal charges – latest updates

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David Smith, the Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, offers this analysis this morning – After indictment, Trump will play the victim – and the tactic will work for many Republicans:

Florida-based Trump is now expected to surrender himself on Tuesday to the Manhattan district attorney (DA) to be fingerprinted and photographed for a mugshot – something guaranteed to delight his many opponents, appall his fans and divide the United States even more.

30 March 2023 is therefore a day for the history books. It offered an affirmation of the Magna Carta principle that no one, not even the onetime commander in chief, is above the law. The 45th president of the United States is set to stand trial and, if convicted, could find himself behind bars instead of running for re-election.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said on the MSNBC network: “Tomorrow, in terms of American history, we will be waking up in a different country. Before tonight, presidents in this country were kings.”

But while the law is clear, the politics are murky. A criminal charge or even conviction does not prevent someone running for the White House, and Trump is currently leading in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

In the pre-Trump universe, an indictment over a hush money payment to an adult film star would have been career-ending. Candidates have withdrawn from election races for much less.

But since 2016, Trump has been a political judo master, turning the weight of opponents and allegations against them to his own advantage. The bigger the alleged crime, the louder he airs grievances and the more he plays the victim – and so far the Republican party has been mostly willing to indulge him.

Read more of David Smith’s analysis here: After indictment, Trump will play the victim – and the tactic will work for many Republicans

Republican politicians were also swift to react to the news. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, called the indictment “un-American” and assailed Bragg as a “Soros-backed” Manhattan prosecutor who was “stretching the law to target a political opponent”.

He added that as governor of Florida, where Trump has lived since leaving the White House, he would not oblige an extradition request should Trump refuse to surrender voluntarily.

News networks that lean towards the Republicans were vocal in their criticism of the indictment last night.

Associated Press reports that Fox News Channel host Jesse Watters called it “totally unacceptable and a disgrace to this country”. Fox’s Sean Hannity said “This is repulsive. This is a disgusting political hit job the likes of which we have never seen in this country anymore.”

Commentator Pete Hegseth said “This is a horrible night for the republic, but politically it’s a great night for Donald Trump,” and he predicted that mugshots of the former president would be proudly displayed in college dorm rooms and on T-shirts.

Hugo Lowell

Reaction to the news of Donald Trump’s indictment was swift overnight, not least from the former US president himself, as Hugo Lowell reports:

Trump, who is running again for president, reacted angrily in a lengthy statement that denounced the grand jury vote as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history”.

He framed the indictment as part of a long litany of investigations he has faced since he “came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower” to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2015. He was the first president to be impeached twice, first over his efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president into announcing a criminal investigation into Joe Biden, and later for his role inciting the violence that unfolded in his name on 6 January 2021.

“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,” he said. “Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done.”

Trump ratcheted up his attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, accusing him of “doing Joe Biden’s dirty work” while failing to prosecute crime in New York.

Read more from Hugo Lowell here: Reactions to Trump’s indictment run the gamut, cynical to sublime

What we know so far …

Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury in New York over a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Daniels claims she had an affair with the former US president in 2006. Trump denies the affair, but has admitted directing his one-time lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to pay Daniels $130,000 for her silence.

Here is what we know so far:

• Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s spokesperson told the media: “This evening we contacted Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan DA’s Office for arraignment on a supreme court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”

• Trump was expected to appear in court for his arraignment on Tuesday, Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles said. At that point he would enter a plea on the charges.

• It is unclear whether Trump will be handcuffed at his appearance but he will be fingerprinted, photographed and processed for a felony arrest. His legal team is expected to vigorously fight the charges, and a timeline for a potential trial remains unclear.

• No former US president has ever been criminally indicted. The news will shake the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, in which Trump leads most polls.

• Trump attacked Bragg and US President Joe Biden in a statement released shortly after the news broke, claiming the indictment amounted to “political persecution”. “I believe this witch-hunt will backfire massively on Biden,” Trump said. “Our movement, and our party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden.”

• New York’s police have been told to all report for duty on Friday and be prepared to deal with “unusual disorder”, according to a memo seen by NBC.

I am Martin Belam in London, and I will be bringing you the latest updates and reaction as the US wakes up this morning to this unprecedented legal and political situation.