1/ The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. While the exact charges are unknown because the indictment remains under seal, Trump is reportedly facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud. Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon and will enter a plea of not guilty at a hearing at the New York State Supreme courthouse in lower Manhattan, at which point the specific charges will be unsealed. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed that it had contacted Trump’s attorney to “coordinate his surrender” on an indictment that “remains under seal.” Bragg’s office had initially asked for Trump to surrender on Friday, but lawyers for the disgraced former president said the Secret Service needed more time to prepare. Like any criminal defendant, Trump will have his fingerprints and mug shots taken when he is processed. Bragg has been investigating whether Trump falsified business records that violated campaign finance laws as part of the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen has claimed that he fronted the money used to pay Daniels – at Trump’s direction – during the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign, and that Trump later reimbursed him, signing monthly checks while serving as president. As part of the scheme, Trump had Trump Organization employees falsely record the repayments as part of a non-existent “retainer” for “legal expenses” to justify the Cohen’s reimbursement. The felony indictment makes Trump the first former president to face criminal charges. Being charged with – or found guilty of – a crime, however, doesn’t disqualify Trump from running for office. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)

Trump and his aides were reportedly caught off guard by the timing of his indictment, believing that any action by the grand jury was still several weeks away. (New York Times / Washington Post)

Trump, meanwhile, took to his personal social network to call the grand jury indictment “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.” Trump accused “Radical Left Democrats” of a “Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “a disgrace” while casting himself as “a completely innocent person.” (Politico)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg defended his office’s decision to indict Trump, rejecting accusations by Republican lawmak...