Trump Indicted in New YorkDonald Trump Is Indicted in New York

Mr. Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges. The precise charges are not yet known, but the case is focused on a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign.

Image Donald J. Trump in National Harbor, Md.
Donald J. Trump in March in National Harbor, Md. He had avoided criminal charges for decades despite persistent scrutiny and repeated investigations.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
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Trump is indicted, becoming first ex-president to face criminal charges.

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Donald J. Trump had avoided criminal charges for decades despite persistent scrutiny and repeated investigations.Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Donald J. Trump on Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation’s first former president to face criminal charges.

On Thursday evening, after news of the charges had been widely reported, the district attorney’s office confirmed that Mr. Trump had been indicted and that prosecutors had contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to authorities in Manhattan.

Mr. Trump is likely to turn himself in on Tuesday, at which point the former president will be photographed and fingerprinted in the bowels of a New York State courthouse, with Secret Service agents in tow. He will then be arraigned, at which point the specific charges will be unsealed. Mr. Trump faces more than two dozen counts, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump has for decades avoided criminal charges despite persistent scrutiny and repeated investigations, creating an aura of legal invincibility that the indictment now threatens to puncture.

But unlike the investigations that arose from his time in the White House — which examined his strong-arm tactics on the international stage, his attempts to overturn the election and his summoning of a mob to the steps of the U.S. Capitol — this case is built around a tawdry episode that predates Mr. Trump’s presidency. The reality star turned presidential candidate who shocked the political establishment by winning the White House now faces a reckoning for a hush-money payment that buried a sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

In a statement, Mr. Trump lashed out at the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat, and portrayed the case as the continuation of a politically motivated witch hunt against him.

“This is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” Mr. Trump said in the statement, calling Mr. Bragg “a disgrace” and casting himself as “a completely innocent person.”

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The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, has been the target of Mr. Trump’s venomous attacks. Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

Mr. Trump, who has consistently denied all wrongdoing, has already called on his followers to protest his arrest, in language reminiscent of his social media posts in the weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. He has also denied any affair with the porn star, Stormy Daniels, who had been looking to sell her story of a tryst with Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign.

“President Trump did not commit any crime,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Susan R. Necheles and Joseph Tacopina, said in a statement. “We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

The first sign that an indictment was imminent on Thursday came just before 2 in the afternoon, when the three lead prosecutors on the Trump investigation walked into the Lower Manhattan building where the grand jury was sitting. One of them carried a copy of the penal law, which was most likely used to read the criminal statutes to the grand jurors before they voted.

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The team prosecuting Mr. Trump was led by Matthew Colangelo, center, and Susan Hoffinger, center left, as well as Chris Conroy.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Nearly three hours later, the prosecutors walked into the court clerk’s office through a back door to begin the official process of filing the indictment, arriving about two minutes before the office closed for the day.

For weeks, the atmosphere outside the district attorney’s office had resembled a circus, with television trucks and protesters surrounding the building. But the fervor had cooled by Thursday, and the outskirts of the office were emptier than they had been in weeks.

Mr. Bragg is the first prosecutor to indict Mr. Trump, but he might not be the last. Mr. Trump’s actions surrounding his electoral defeat are now the focus of a separate federal investigation, and a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Mr. Trump’s attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

But the Manhattan indictment, the product of a nearly five-year investigation, kicks off a volatile new phase in Mr. Trump’s post-presidential life as he makes a third run for the White House. And it will throw the race for the Republican nomination — which he is leading in most polls — into uncharted territory.

Under normal circumstances, an indictment would deal a fatal blow to a presidential candidacy. But Mr. Trump is not a normal candidate. He has already said that he would not abandon the race if he were charged, and the case might even help him in the short term as he paints himself as a political martyr.

The indictment also raises the prospect of an explosive backlash from Mr. Trump, who often uses his legal woes to stoke the rage of die-hard supporters. Already, the former president has used bigoted language to attack Mr. Bragg, the first Black man to lead the district attorney’s office, calling him a “racist,” an “animal” and a “radical left prosecutor.”

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Mary Kelley, a supporter of Mr. Trump, on the bridge outside of Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday.Credit...Josh Ritchie for The New York Times

In the past, Mr. Trump has lashed out when feeling cornered, encouraging the violent attack on the Capitol as he contested the results of the 2020 presidential election. That assault on the seat of government demonstrated that Mr. Trump’s most zealous followers were willing to resort to violence on his behalf as he sought to overturn the election results.

While the specific charges in the Manhattan case against the former president remain unknown, Mr. Bragg’s case centers on a $130,000 hush-money payment to Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Trump’s longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made the payment in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump later reimbursed him, signing monthly checks while serving as president.

Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors appear to have zeroed in on the way Mr. Trump and his family business, the Trump Organization, handled the reimbursement to Mr. Cohen. In internal documents, Trump Organization employees falsely recorded the repayments as legal expenses, and the company invented a bogus retainer agreement with Mr. Cohen to justify them.

Mr. Cohen, who broke with Mr. Trump in 2018 and later testified before Congress as well as the grand jury that indicted Mr. Trump, has said that the former president knew about the phony legal expenses and retainer agreement.

In New York, it can be a crime to falsify business records, and Mr. Bragg’s office is likely to build the case around that charge, according to people with knowledge of the matter and outside legal experts.

But to charge falsifying business records as a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors must show that Mr. Trump’s “intent to defraud” included an effort to commit or conceal a second crime.

That second crime could be a violation of election law. Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors might argue that the payment to Ms. Daniels represented an illicit contribution to Mr. Trump’s campaign: The money silenced Ms. Daniels, aiding his candidacy at a crucial time.

“Campaign finance violations may seem like small potatoes next to possible charges for his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, but they also go to the heart of the integrity of the electoral process,” said Jerry H. Goldfeder, a special counsel at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP and a recognized expert in New York state election law.

If Mr. Trump were ultimately convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of four years, though prison time would not be mandatory.

Yet a conviction is not a sure thing, and Mr. Bragg’s case might apply a legal theory that has yet to be evaluated by judges. A New York Times review of relevant cases and interviews with election law experts strongly suggest that New York State prosecutors have never before filed an election law case involving a federal campaign.

An untested case against any defendant, let alone a former president of the United States, carries the risk that a court could throw out or limit the charges.

Mr. Trump will not be the first person charged over the hush-money payment. In 2018, Mr. Cohen was federally prosecuted for the payment and pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.

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Michael D. Cohen, right, Mr. Trump’s former fixer, will be a crucial witness against him. Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Mr. Cohen is likely to become Mr. Bragg’s star witness at trial. While his past crimes will make him a target for Mr. Trump’s lawyers — who can be expected to attack the former fixer’s credibility at every turn — prosecutors will be likely to counter that Mr. Cohen lied on behalf of Mr. Trump, and that his story has been consistent for years.

In a statement, Mr. Cohen said he took “solace in validating the adage that no one is above the law; not even a former president.”

His lawyer, Lanny J. Davis, said that “Michael Cohen made the brave decision to speak truth to power and accept the consequences,” and that “he has done so ever since.”

Mr. Cohen will not be the prosecution’s only witness: David Pecker, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump and the former publisher of The National Enquirer, testified before the grand jury twice this year. He is likely to be able to corroborate important aspects of Mr. Cohen’s story, including that Mr. Trump wanted to bury embarrassing stories to protect his presidential campaign, not just his family, as his lawyers contend.

Soon after Mr. Trump began his campaign in 2015, he hosted Mr. Pecker for a meeting at Trump Tower, during which the publisher agreed to look out for stories that might damage Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

One such story arose in the summer of 2016, when Karen McDougal, Playboy’s playmate of the year in 1998, said that she had had an affair with Mr. Trump. She reached a $150,000 agreement with the tabloid, which bought the rights to her story to suppress it, a practice known as “catch and kill.”

When Ms. Daniels tried to secure a similar arrangement, Mr. Pecker didn’t take the deal. But he and the tabloid’s former top editor helped broker Mr. Cohen’s payment to Ms. Daniels.

Despite the potential legal obstacles, and questions about Mr. Cohen’s credibility, if the case does go to trial, the salacious details could sink Mr. Trump. While white-collar prosecutions are often dry and procedural, this one will likely have some built-in jury appeal: a defendant charged with a seedy crime in a city where he is loathed by many.

Any trial is months away. It will take time for Mr. Trump’s lawyers to argue that the case should be thrown out. That timeline raises the extraordinary possibility of a trial unfolding in the thick of the 2024 presidential campaign.

The case would come before a jury more than five years after Mr. Cohen’s federal guilty plea prompted the district attorney’s office to open an investigation into Mr. Trump’s role in the hush-money saga. The inquiry began under Mr. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who did not seek re-election.

Over the years, the investigation expanded to include whether Mr. Trump had lied about his net worth on annual financial statements. Although Mr. Vance’s prosecutors were marching toward an indictment of Mr. Trump for inflating his net worth, soon after Mr. Bragg took office, he developed concerns about proving the case.

But he continued to scrutinize Mr. Trump. And in January, a few months after his prosecutors began revisiting the potential hush-money case, Mr. Bragg impaneled the grand jury that has now indicted Mr. Trump.

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

March 30, 2023, 10:45 p.m. ET

Conspiracy theorists online grasp for explanation behind indictment.

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Representative Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, wrote on the social network Gab that Mr. Bragg was “a Soros D.A..”Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

On social media channels associated with extremists and conspiracy theorists, people searched for an explanation behind former President Donald J. Trump’s indictment on Thursday, with some calling him a victim of a Democratic witch hunt to suppress his influence and others describing him as a grand master playing political chess to reclaim the presidency.

The scattered response reflects the shift in Mr. Trump’s power since a large group of his supporters stormed the Capitol after he lost the 2020 election. In the years since, Mr. Trump’s political movement experienced multiple electoral defeats. Some supporters were jailed after the attack on the Capitol. The social media landscape shifted, and Mr. Trump’s digital reach remains limited by an obligation that he first post on Truth Social, the social network he started last year that has far fewer users than Twitter and Facebook.

Mr. Trump tried rallying his base as the expected indictment drew near — and he earned widespread support from Republicans. Mr. Trump’s recent calls for supporters to protest his potential arrest received a muted response.

Online conversations about the indictment on Thursday seemed to reflect the absence of clear direction. QAnon accounts on Telegram began posting slogans associated with the conspiracy theory, such as “trusting the plan” and “the storm is upon us,” in support of Mr. Trump. Dan Bongino, a radio host who has echoed Mr. Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, wrote on Truth Social that “the police state is here.” Some users claimed that the indictment would only strengthen support for Mr. Trump and help him win re-election in 2024.

Exaggerated accounts of the connections between Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney overseeing the case, and George Soros, the financier and Democratic megadonor, continued to spread. Representative Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, wrote on the social network Gab that Mr. Bragg was “a Soros D.A.,” although a spokesman for Mr. Soros has said that he has never met Mr. Bragg nor donated directly to his campaign. (Mr. Soros donated $1 million to the political arm of Color of Change, a progressive criminal justice group that endorsed Mr. Bragg.)

Threats directed at Mr. Bragg and Mr. Soros peppered online discussions of the indictment — including claims that people were watching Mr. Bragg’s house and children, appeals for Trump supporters to “pick up your rifles” and posts asking “when is go time.” On Truth Social, some called for an armed defense of Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s residence in Florida.

Much of the chatter on far-right channels appeared to be an effort to vent or prognosticate, rather than attempt any coordinated effort. Some users called for peaceful protest and urged others to resist acting on their emotions until more was known about the indictment.

What Happens When Trump Surrenders

By Lazaro Gamio/The New York Times

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Maggie Haberman
March 30, 2023, 10:12 p.m. ET

Mike Pence, on a previously booked TV interview, calls the indictment ‘an outrage.’

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Former Vice President Mike Pence said the indictment had no bearing on his own decision about entering the 2024 race.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Mike Pence, who was Donald J. Trump’s vice president, defended his former running mate on Thursday night, describing Mr. Trump’s indictment in a hush-money case as “an outrage.”

“The unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,” Mr. Pence told the host Wolf Blitzer on CNN.

He accused Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, of having “literally ran” his campaign vowing to go after Mr. Trump. Mr. Bragg talked about Mr. Trump during his campaign in 2021.

Mr. Pence, who is considering a run for president, added that the indictment had no bearing on his own decision about the 2024 race.

But by virtue of being previously booked on CNN, Mr. Pence was one of the few prospective candidates to comment. Chris Christie and Senator Tim Scott did not comment. Neither did Nikki Haley, who declared her candidacy last month.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is expected to run but has not yet announced his campaign, called the indictment of Mr. Trump “un-American.” Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the lesser-known Republican contenders, also weighed in, condemning the indictment in a statement as undermining “public trust in our electoral system and our justice system” and urging other candidates to join him in denouncing it.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Pence delivered his strongest public rebuke yet of Mr. Trump, saying that “that history will hold Donald Trump accountable” for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which he called “a disgrace.”

Alyce McFadden contributed reporting.

Katie Glueck
March 30, 2023, 10:11 p.m. ET

Democratic reaction focuses on a theme: accountability.

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Jane Kleeb, chair of the Democratic Party of Nebraska, said that “Trump is being held accountable for breaking the law.”Credit...Walker Pickering for The New York Times

Some Democrats cheered. Others were somber.

But from New York to New Mexico, the early Democratic reaction to news of Donald J. Trump’s indictment had one common message: No one is above the law.

In statements and interviews, party chairs, representatives from left-leaning organizations and other Democratic officials cast the indictment as a critical measure of accountability for a politician who has long trafficked in lies and now faces a morass of legal difficulties.

“This indictment is a long-overdue step in holding Trump accountable for his flagrant disregard for our laws and democracy,” said Jessica Velasquez, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “The legal system is finally holding him accountable for past transgressions, but it’s up to the voters to hold him accountable in his current run for president.”

“Trump is being held accountable for breaking the law,” added Jane Kleeb, her counterpart in Nebraska.

While he is innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Trump was indicted on Thursday by a special grand jury in connection with his role in paying hush money to a porn star, making him the first former president to face criminal charges in American history.

The specific charges are not yet known, and some Democrats warned against making sweeping judgments without more information.

“In America we believe in the rule of law,” Representative Ruben Gallego, who is running for the Senate in Arizona, said in a statement. “We should wait to hear from the grand jury before jumping to conclusions.”

Mayor Randall L. Woodfin of Birmingham, Ala., stressed that “grand juries are a serious matter.”

“Since 2016, American politics have been a mess, an embarrassing mess,” he said in an interview, saying that Mr. Trump had done things “where many just thought he was above the law. I want to be totally clear when I say this: Nobody’s above the law.”

But it is not yet clear how much, if at all, leading Democrats will lean into discussing the indictment in a political context, especially until charges are known.

In a statement, the Democratic National Committee made only a passing reference to the development before shifting to lash Republicans over more traditional political fare concerning abortion rights and the social safety net, as well as Republican efforts to undermine “free and fair elections.”

“No matter what happens in Trump’s upcoming legal proceedings, it’s obvious the Republican Party remains firmly in the hold of Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans,” said Ammar Moussa, a representative for the D.N.C. “We will continue to hold Trump and all Republican candidates accountable for the extreme MAGA agenda.”

Others, like Representative Adam B. Schiff, didn’t hold back. Mr. Schiff, who is running for the Senate in California and who led the first impeachment trial of Mr. Trump, is already fund-raising off the development.

“Donald Trump was just indicted,” the appeal said. “Adam has always championed progressive values and led the fight to protect our democracy. Now, taking his fight to Trump’s biggest defenders in the Senate is more important than ever.”

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Rebecca Davis O’Brien
March 30, 2023, 9:55 p.m. ET

After an indictment, a barrage of fund-raising emails.

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Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, left, and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri encouraged people to donate after the news of Donald J. Trump’s indictment on Thursday.Credit...Tom Brenner for The New York Times, Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times

News of Donald J. Trump’s indictment set off a flurry of fund-raising solicitations by Republicans and Democrats alike, as politicians and super PACs sought to convert outrage — or fear, or perceived momentum — into campaign dollars.

The hustle for cash was made more urgent by a quirk of timing: Friday, March 31, is the deadline for the first quarter of fund-raising.

There was Mr. Trump’s campaign, of course, which asked for donations of $24 or more to defend his movement from “the never-ending witch hunts.”

The Missouri senator Josh Hawley’s campaign chimed in, citing the “liberally biased agenda” of the “radical Left,” and told his supporters to “Stand with conservatives NOW.” Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranking House Republican — and a stalwart defender of Mr. Trump — encouraged people to donate to an “Official Trump Defense Fund.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee said that “the Deep State thinks this will destroy our movement and keep you quiet,” and invited supporters to “prove them wrong.”

Adam Schiff’s campaign, for the Senate in California, and the Democratic Governors Association also sent out emails to supporters Thursday evening. The Senate Majority PAC asked for donations to “continue protecting our Senate majority from G.O.P. extremists.”

An early evening email from the Defeat Republicans PAC reminded recipients that the indictment did not prevent Mr. Trump from being elected president in 2024, and that Mr. Trump still had the support of a substantial slice of the Republican base. The Fight for Progress PAC put things in more dire terms: “We need to do everything we can to STOP Trump and his enablers in Congress from destroying our democracy.”

Nicole Danna
March 30, 2023, 9:35 p.m. ET

Reporting from Palm Beach, Fla.

At 9 p.m., about 20 Trump supporters gathered just outside Mar-A-Lago in Florida in a show of solidarity. When asked why she made the trek to Palm Beach, Loxahatchee resident Georgia McGeerey said she had come to "fight for America."

Lake Worth resident Nancy Sparks, 83, said the indictment was set off by Trump's presidential run. “They said they would get him and they’re trying. It’s going to backfire and the Democrats are going to wish they didn’t mess with him,” she said.

William Rashbaum
March 30, 2023, 9:29 p.m. ET

The felony indictment charging Donald J. Trump for his role in paying hush money to a porn star in the days before the 2016 presidential election includes more than two dozen counts, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

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March 30, 2023, 9:01 p.m. ET

These are the security measures New York is putting in place.

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Police officers in Lower Manhattan on Thursday evening after news broke of former President Donald Trump’s indictment.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

The preparations have been going for more than week. Metal barriers now ring Trump Tower in Midtown and the Criminal Courts Building in Lower Manhattan. Stepped-up patrols have been visible downtown, and law enforcement officials have been preparing for protests. All New York Police Department officers of all ranks have been called to duty in uniform on Friday.

Senior officials from the district attorney’s office and the state agency that runs the courts had discussions in recent days to plan for the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump. So did officials from the Police Department, which patrols the streets outside the criminal courthouse, and the court officers, who handle security inside the building, where Mr. Trump will be arraigned.

Armed agents of the U.S. Secret Service, who are required by law to protect the former president at all times, are expected to accompany Mr. Trump once he surrenders and during every step of arrest processing.

And more than a week ago, at least a dozen senior Police Department officials and two of the mayor’s top public safety aides held a virtual meeting to discuss security, staffing and contingency plans in the event of protests, one person with knowledge of the meeting said.

That meeting followed a call from Mr. Trump himself, in a post on his site Truth Social on the morning of March 18. “PROTEST,” he exhorted his supporters. “TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

The former president’s rallying cry, with an indictment then looming, conjured up memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

After the indictment was filed Thursday, the New York Police Department issued an order to all officers directing them to be “prepared for deployment” in uniform, according to a copy of the internal notification. The memo, issued just after 5:30 p.m., said all members must “remain prepared for mobilization at any time during their assigned tour.”

Security is also a looming issue in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat who is the first Black person to hold the post. Mr. Trump, a Republican, has lashed out at the district attorney, calling him a racist and saying his investigation is politically motivated.

Mr. Bragg and one of his top aides have already been the targets of threats on Mr. Trump’s social media platform. In an email to staffers last week, first reported by Politico, Mr. Bragg assured prosecutors and other staff that he had been coordinating with the Police Department and court officials to ensure their safety.

Last week, a letter containing white powder and a death threat targeting Mr. Bragg were discovered in the office’s mailroom across the street. The powder was later determined to be not dangerous.

“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” Mr. Bragg wrote. “Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated.”

Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.

Shane Goldmacher
March 30, 2023, 8:32 p.m. ET

DeSantis says Florida wouldn’t aid Trump’s extradition to New York.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in Des Moines this month. Under Florida law, the governor has the power to call for an investigation of extradition requests.Credit...Jordan Gale for The New York Times

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is widely expected to challenge Donald J. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, called the indictment of Mr. Trump “un-American” and said that his state “will not assist in an extradition request” should one come from New York authorities.

Earlier this month, Mr. DeSantis took two days after Mr. Trump inaccurately predicted an imminent arrest to comment, and at the time he demurred on the potential role that he or his state — home to Mr. Trump, who lives at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach — would play in potentially extraditing Mr. Trump to New York.

A spokesperson for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said on Thursday evening that the office had contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney “to coordinate his surrender” and that “guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”

Mr. Trump is expected to voluntarily surrender on Tuesday, according to one of his lawyers, Susan R. Necheles. But if Mr. Trump does not, Mr. DeSantis’s statement made clear his state would not cooperate with the New York authorities. Mr. DeSantis called the charge — the specifics of which remain under seal — “the weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda.”

“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,” Mr. DeSantis said, referring to indirect financial backing from George Soros, the liberal financier, that Mr. Bragg received in his campaign.

Under Florida law, the governor has the power to call for an investigation of the extradition request to determine “whether the person ought to be surrendered.” The governor must also sign off on a warrant before the person who has been charged in another state can be arrested and detained.

In his earlier comments ten days ago, Mr. DeSantis similarly referred to the “weaponizing” of the case, though then he added a swipe at Mr. Trump’s personal behavior.

“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” Mr. DeSantis said then. “I just, I can’t speak to that.”

His statement on Thursday contained no such reference.

The logistics of Mr. Trump’s surrender are complex, with arrangements expected to be made between his legal team, the Secret Service and New York law enforcement.

Ken Bensinger and William Rashbaum contributed reporting

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Ben Protess
March 30, 2023, 8:23 p.m. ET

One key player did not cooperate with prosecutors: Trump’s financial gatekeeper.

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Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, is serving a 100-day sentence for tax fraud. He testified against the company on the same accusations.Credit...Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

As prosecutors built a criminal case against Donald J. Trump for his role in a hush money payment to a porn star, they interviewed several key witnesses: Mr. Trump’s onetime fixer, the former publisher of the National Enquirer and the actress herself.

There is one central player who did not cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney’s office: Mr. Trump’s longtime financial gatekeeper.

Allen H. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, is believed to have played an important role in the hush-money deal with the porn star, Stormy Daniels, who accepted a $130,000 payoff to keep quiet about an affair she said she had with Mr. Trump.

Yet Mr. Weisselberg is currently serving the final weeks of a 100-day sentence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty last year to unrelated tax fraud charges and testifying against the Trump Organization at its trial on the same accusations.

Despite testifying in the tax case, Mr. Weisselberg has never implicated Mr. Trump in a crime. That’s not for a lack of pressure: The district attorney’s office has tried time and again to persuade him to turn on his longtime boss.

At trial last year, Mr. Weisselberg walked a delicate balance. His plea deal, which avoided a long prison sentence, required that he testify truthfully against the Trump Organization, even while the family that has employed him for nearly a half-century continued to pay his salary and his legal bills. In essence, Mr. Weisselberg, who prepared for his testimony with both the prosecution and the defense, needed to serve two masters.

One, the Trump Organization, was upset. His testimony proved damning for the company, which was convicted in December.

Mr. Weisselberg’s decision to meet with the prosecutors ignited a battle between the company and his lawyer, Nicholas A. Gravante Jr., according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some people in Mr. Trump’s circle questioned whether Mr. Gravante, who had secured the plea deal that spared Mr. Weisselberg a lengthy prison sentence, was too cooperative.

Mr. Weisselberg recently cut ties with Mr. Gravante, one of the people said, adding that the tension from the trial helped lay the groundwork for the change. Mr. Weisselberg is now represented by Seth L. Rosenberg, a former prosecutor in the district attorney’s office. Mr. Rosenberg’s hiring was first reported by The Daily Beast.

The switch had no immediate impact on Mr. Weisselberg’s relationship with either the district attorney’s office, which continues to seek his cooperation against Mr. Trump, or the Trump Organization, which continues to pay his legal bills.

Mr. Weisselberg still could be valuable to prosecutors on several fronts, including the hush-money inquiry.

Michael D. Cohen, the former fixer who paid $130,000 to buy Ms. Daniels’s silence in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, has said that he coordinated with Mr. Trump and Mr. Weisselberg. And Mr. Cohen wrote in his memoir that when Mr. Trump reimbursed him for the $130,000, Mr. Weisselberg helped handle the repayment.

Mr. Cohen testified before the state grand jury that has now indicted Mr. Trump, as did David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker the hush-money deal. Ms. Daniels also met with prosecutors virtually, but has not appeared before the grand jury.

In 2018, Mr. Weisselberg testified before a federal grand jury that was hearing a case against Mr. Cohen, who eventually pleaded guilty to his role in the hush-money deal. And the federal prosecutors who obtained Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea for a time investigated whether Mr. Weisselberg lied in the grand jury or obstructed the investigation. They closed the inquiry without charging him.

Mr. Weisselberg did not testify before the state grand jury that has now indicted Mr. Trump, but that does not mean he won’t become a witness later. The prosecutors in recent weeks have mounted additional pressure on Mr. Weisselberg to cooperate, warning that he might otherwise face a new round of charges unrelated to the hush money case.

The prosecutors likely want his cooperation not just with the hush-money case but also a broader investigation into Mr. Trump’s business practices.

Yet there is no sign that Mr. Weisselberg will cave. One of his sons has long worked for the Trump Organization. The company also agreed to a generous severance package for Mr. Weisselberg as he was preparing to enter Rikers Island.

Maggie Haberman
March 30, 2023, 8:16 p.m. ET

At Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s camp is caught off guard.

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Mar-a-Lago has served as former President Donald J. Trump’s lavish residence and private club.Credit...Josh Ritchie for The New York Times

At Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, former President Donald J. Trump was still absorbing the news of his indictment, according to several people close to him. Mr. Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all.

Some advisers had become confident that there would be no movement until the end of April at the earliest and were looking at the political implications for Mr. Trump’s closest potential rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

The specifics of the Manhattan indictment are not yet known, but the charges are expected to center on Mr. Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

At Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach estate, Mr. Trump’s mood has ranged in recent weeks from optimism and bravado to anxiety about his future.

On Thursday evening, after the grand jury indicted him, Mr. Trump was angry but mainly focused on the political implications of the charges, not the legal consequences, according to people familiar with his thinking.

He seemed eager to project confidence and calm and was seen having a very public dinner with his wife, Melania, and her parents at the club at Mar-a-Lago.

He has been keeping a relatively normal schedule at Mar-a-Lago, which he calls “my beautiful home” — dining with guests, playing golf and telling nearly anyone that he was in a good mood and that he believed the case against him by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, had fallen apart.

At times Mr. Trump has appeared significantly disconnected from the severity of his potential legal woes, according to people who have spent time with him in recent days.

He was also trying to tamp down his own behavior, after he posted to his social media site a news article with an image of Mr. Bragg on one side and Mr. Trump holding a baseball bat on the other. Mr. Trump’s lawyers were alarmed that he was doing himself damage. He did not repeat the act.

For all of Mr. Trump’s outward confidence, the reality is that he has feared and avoided an indictment for more than four decades, after first being criminally investigated in the 1970s. He watched in horror as his former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, surrendered to authorities, which was shown on television in 2021. Mr. Weisselberg is only slightly younger than Mr. Trump, who told aides he couldn’t believe “what they’re doing to that old man.”

On Thursday, the former president responded to news of the indictment with an aggressive statement, calling the grand jury vote “political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

He framed the investigation that resulted in the indictment as the latest in the long line of criminal inquiries he has faced, none of which have resulted in charges.

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable,” he wrote. “Indicting a completely innocent person.”

At the same time, a large group of former Trump Organization employees was quietly cheering the latest developments via text messages, a reminder of how many people have felt burned in various ways by Mr. Trump over the years.

On Thursday night, local police were stationed outside the front gate to Mar-a-Lago. The 100-year-old mansion that serves as the former president’s lavish residence and private club has long been a respite for Mr. Trump. But that is no longer the case. Last summer, federal investigators searched the estate. And on Thursday it was the site where he learned he would become the first former president to face criminal charges.

Nicole Danna contributed reporting.

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William Rashbaum
March 30, 2023, 8:15 p.m. ET

Former President Trump is expected to turn himself in on Tuesday for arraignment on the indictment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, according to one of his lawyers, Susan R. Necheles.

Katie Robertson
March 30, 2023, 7:43 p.m. ET

Indictment elicits extensive coverage, and some gasps, on TV.

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Times Square after a grand jury voted to indict the former president.Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times

The news of the indictment of former President Trump immediately took over cable news channels and the country’s main broadcast networks on Thursday.

On Fox News, the host Sandra Smith interrupted the network’s roundtable show “The Five” around 5:30 p.m. with the breaking news, eliciting gasps from her fellow co-hosts: “We have just gotten word: Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury in New York.”

On CNN, the news broke during Wolf Blitzer’s “The Situation Room” program. CNN quickly convened a rotating cast of analysts.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber pressed the gravity of the news on his audience, saying after the judicial process played out, the former president “could literally be incarcerated.”

NBC, ABC and CBS broke into regular programming to report the news, with some cameras pointing at the Manhattan district attorney’s office and Trump Tower in New York, Mr. Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and his plane at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach.

Much of the coverage focused on questions about the exact nature of the charges, which are not yet known, and when Mr. Trump would be arraigned, as well as security preparations underway in New York City. Mr. Blitzer of CNN told viewers it was “historic” news — the first time a former president had been indicted on criminal charges.

But on Fox, which has long been friendly to Mr. Trump, at least until recent months, there was a lot of speculation and commentary about the political motivations behind the indictment, with many of the hosts defending Mr. Trump.

“It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Jesse Watters, one of the hosts. “And I feel bad for the guy. He didn’t really have to be president. He had a lot of money, he had a great life.

“Now they’re trying to nickel and dime him for a private agreement he made with a woman, what, eight years ago?”

Mr. Watters added: “I’m angry about it. I don’t like it. The country is not going to stand for it. And people better be careful. And that’s all I’ll say about that.”

The host Greg Gutfeld described the news as “the third act of the movie.”

“Alvin Bragg is the MAGA Republican of the year; he just got Trump’s nomination,” Mr. Gutfeld said, referring to the Manhattan district attorney.

Later on Fox News, Bret Baier, the chief political anchor, asked Mr. Trump to call in to the network to share his reaction to the indictment.

“I’d like to put in the call right now: If the former president would like to phone in, we’d love to have his reaction to this news tonight,” he said.

Téa KvetenadzeBrittany Kriegstein
March 30, 2023, 7:41 p.m. ET

Téa Kvetenadze and

With media scrums and middle fingers, Manhattan reacts to the indictment.

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The scene outside Trump Tower on Thursday after Donald Trump was indicted.Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

The indictment of former President Donald J. Trump did little to interrupt the Midtown bustle outside Trump Tower on Thursday afternoon, but there were small signs. Tourists gathered around television reporters going live. More than one passer-by stopped to pose for a photo, gesturing at the building with their middle finger.

On the sidewalk across the street, a man had written messages in chalk earlier in the day: “Justice is coming for Trump” and “Remember Brian Sicknick,” a Capitol Police officer who died after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters.

Tourists near the tower celebrated the indictment.

“It was amazing how quick it all was,” said Mark Kohn, 21, a forest ranger visiting from Denver.

“It’s what he deserves,” said Mr. Kohn’s partner, Mack Kemper, 21, who works in education and thought the opposite of the timing: “I think this was a long time coming. I think it was surprising how long it took, but I’m glad.”

The pair were with Mr. Kohn’s uncle, Jack Nightingale, 73, a retiree visiting from Massachusetts. “It’s still sinking in,” he said. “The justice system, it’s slow, but it gets there.”

Jennifer Dibs whooped and laughed as she passed Trump Tower. “This is a great day!” she cheered, undeterred by a man responding with a chant of “Let’s go Trump!”

Ms. Dibs, 57, said she had come specifically to celebrate the indictment and spread the news to people along the way.

“It’s a house of cards: little pieces have to get pulled, little threads,” she said.

“It could all just cascade from here,” added her childhood friend Jill Zimmerman, 56.

Others were less pleased with the news.

Travis Burrough, 27, was in town from Central California and said: “I think he’s only getting indicted because of who he is, being President Trump. They’re trying to take him off his campaign trail.” But Mr. Burrough, who voted for Mr. Trump and said he probably would again, was not surprised.

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” he said.

Downtown, a handful of anti-Trump protesters posed outside the courthouse on Hogan Place with a large banner reading “THE TIME IS NOW.”

Em Ingram, 20, a California native studying environmental studies, journalism and politics at N.Y.U., held a small sign that read “Trump is Over.”

“I live across the street. I’ve been watching out my window every single day, waiting,” they said. “I think it’s going to lead to some pretty complex results as far as stirring sentiments that are pro-Trump and against Trump. I’m hoping that the trial works out and he is in trouble for this, but it’s very hard to say, because he’s an extremely wealthy and an extremely well-protected man.”

Reporters and photographers descended on the courthouse, creating a scrum several people deep and standing on scaffolding waiting for a glimpse of District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, who quickly exited a side door on Hogan Place with a few other people, got into a black Suburban with dark windows and sped away. None of them said anything.

A passing lawyer who would not give his name mused about what was coming.

“Imagine how crazy this is going to be when they bring him here,” he said.

Kate Christobek, Sean Piccoli and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

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Nate Schweber
March 30, 2023, 7:37 p.m. ET

Shortly before 7 p.m., Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial this year in which the Trump Organization was convicted of financial crimes, entered the Manhattan criminal courthouse. He will likely read through the paperwork of Thursday’s indictment of Donald Trump on charges of fraudulently paying hush money to a porn star. Two uniformed court officers flanked Merchan, who was dressed casually in gray sweatpants, a baseball cap and a blue puffy coat. They walked briskly toward the judge’s chambers.

Charlie Savage
March 30, 2023, 7:35 p.m. ET

If Trump does surrender voluntarily, it will save Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from a legal predicament over his vow a few minutes ago on Twitter not to cooperate in any extradition request. DeSantis, a Harvard Law School graduate, was vowing to violate the U.S Constitution. Article IV, Section 2 reads: “A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.”

Luke BroadwaterJames C. McKinley Jr.
March 30, 2023, 7:23 p.m. ET

Reaction to Trump’s indictment breaks down along familiar party lines.

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Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who leads the House Judiciary Committee, posted a one-word message on Twitter in response to the indictment: “Outrageous.”Credit...T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

As news spread on Thursday that a Manhattan grand jury had handed up an indictment against former President Donald J. Trump, the reactions broke down along drearily familiar partisan lines, reflecting a country still deeply divided by Mr. Trump’s turbulent time in office and his rejection of the 2020 election results.

House Republicans, who have tried to intervene in the case, reacted with anger and vowed revenge.

Democrats, many of whom had tried to hold Mr. Trump accountable for wrongdoing through two impeachment trials, expressed satisfaction that the Manhattan district attorney’s office had obtained an indictment. Many echoed the same refrain: that the charges showed no one was above the law.

“The indictment of a former president is unprecedented,” said Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who prosecuted Mr. Trump in his first impeachment proceeding. “But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged. A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office. Especially when they do. To do otherwise is not democracy.”

Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, posted on Twitter that it was “a somber day for America” but added, “It is also a time to put faith in our judicial system.” Another California Democrat, Maxine Waters, posted, “Sometimes justice works.”

Many Republicans in Congress followed Mr. Trump’s lead, depicting the indictment as part of a politically motivated effort to damage him before he stands for re-election. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is a Democrat.

Three powerful congressional Republicans sent a letter last week demanding that Mr. Bragg provide them with communications, documents and testimony about his inquiry, a move Republicans and Mr. Trump believed could slow down or disrupt the investigation. Mr. Bragg pushed back forcefully against that demand, which his office called an inappropriate attempt by Congress to impede a local prosecution.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, harshly criticized Mr. Bragg, who he said had “irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our presidential election.”

“As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump,” Mr. McCarthy said. “The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican who leads the House Judiciary Committee, is one of those who have questioned the legitimacy of Mr. Bragg’s investigation. Mr. Jordan posted a one-word message on Twitter in response to the indictment: “Outrageous.”

Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the House Republican conference chairwoman, blasted Mr. Bragg as a “socialist” and “corrupt” and accused him of “election interference” and a “witch hunt.”

“The radical Far Left will stop at nothing to persecute Joe Biden’s chief political opponent ahead of the 2024 presidential election to suppress the will and voice of the American people,” she said.

Representative Ronny Jackson, Republican of Texas, who served as the White House physician to Mr. Trump before winning election to Congress in 2020, captured the vitriolic partisan view of some Republicans in a post on Twitter.

“These cowardly Democrats HATE Trump and HATE his voters even more,” he wrote. “When Trump wins, THESE PEOPLE WILL PAY!!”

There were some calls to protest. On the former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon’s “War Room” online broadcast, an influential program among Trump supporters, the former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka called for supporters to “peacefully protest” the indictment.

“We are going to see who are the politicians, who are the grifters, and who are the America First patriots,” he said. “This is a time of sorting.”

Some Democrats pointedly recalled Trump supporters’ calls during the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton, then the Democratic presidential nominee, to be arrested.

“Those lock her up chants that people were chanting like hyenas in a stadium around the country were never funny,” Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, said in a Twitter post. “Perhaps they now understand why.”

Mr. Trump’s family members took their criticism of Mr. Bragg to an extreme, comparing the indictment to the actions of a totalitarian state.

“This is stuff that would make Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, it would make them blush,” Mr. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. said, adding a warning to Republicans who he said did not support his father: “Just wait until they come for you, because they will.”

Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, said on Twitter: “This is third world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.”

Catie Edmondson and Annie Karni contributed reporting.

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Jonah Bromwich
March 30, 2023, 7:15 p.m. ET

In a statement, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said that Mr. Trump’s attorney had been contacted “to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal.” The exact date of an arraignment, when the charges would formally be announced, remains unknown.

Charlie Savage
March 30, 2023, 7:12 p.m. ET

One question is how House Republicans, who have already tried demanding information from Bragg in what may foreshadow a potentially novel subpoena, will respond. Rep. Dan Goldman, the New York Democrat who was the majority counsel in Trump’s first impeachment before running for Congress, said in a statement that the case should be allowed to play out under courtroom rules and without outside meddling: “As the process plays out, every elected official from across the ideological spectrum must make unequivocally clear that there is no room for political violence or interference. Donald Trump’s defense must take place in the court of law, not in the halls of Congress or in the political sphere.”

Maggie Haberman
March 30, 2023, 7:04 p.m. ET

Chris Kise, a lawyer who represents Trump in a civil case brought by New York State, called the indictment “the lowest point in history for our criminal justice system. What was once the most respected and revered district attorney’s office in the nation has been fully bastardized by an opportunistic politician seeking, like many others, to cash in on the Trump brand. The complete lack of legal basis, coupled with the politically targeted nature of the prosecution, should strike fear into every citizen in this country irrespective of their views of President Trump.”

March 30, 2023, 7:03 p.m. ET

The indictment stems from a nearly five-year investigation.

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Former President Donald J. Trump had often drawn scrutiny in his long career as a businessman.Credit...Rebecca Noble for The New York Times

For nearly five years, confidential records have identified a continuing grand jury inquiry in Manhattan as “Investigation Into the Business and Affairs of John Doe.”

But soon that secret matter will get a more recognizable name: “The People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump.”

That case, which the Manhattan grand jury approved on Thursday, is the product of a tortuous investigation that began in the summer of 2018.

At the time, Mr. Trump was president and the investigation’s leader was Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the then-district attorney. Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael D. Cohen, had just pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the payment of hush money to a pornographic film star.

Mr. Vance seized on the guilty plea, opening the investigation to determine whether Mr. Trump and his company ran afoul of New York State law as well.

The assistant district attorneys he assigned did not get far: The federal prosecutors who charged Mr. Cohen asked Mr. Vance’s office to stand down until their own investigation was complete, which took nearly a year.

Once the federal prosecutors stepped aside in July 2019 — writing in a court document that they had effectively concluded their investigation without charges — Mr. Vance’s team swooped in. Within weeks, it issued a flurry of subpoenas.

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Cyrus Vance Jr., who did not seek re-election, ran out of time to pursue an indictment of Mr. Trump.Credit...Desiree Rios for The New York Times

But prosecutors soon hit another obstacle. After they subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s tax returns and other financial records, he sued to prevent his accountants from producing the records.

The lawsuit took nearly 18 months, ultimately reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, which twice ruled in Mr. Vance’s favor. And by the time Mr. Vance’s prosecutors obtained Mr. Trump’s tax returns in March 2021, they had broadened the investigation beyond the hush-money deal to examine his business practices.

Mr. Trump had often drawn scrutiny in his long career as a businessman, but one thing stood out to Mr. Vance’s prosecutors: his annual financial statements. The statements, they came to suspect, were a grand work of fiction that inflated the value of his hotels, golf clubs and other properties.

As they assembled the evidence, however, a key element was missing: a Trump Organization insider willing to testify against Mr. Trump. So Mr. Vance — who had recruited an outside lawyer, Mark Pomerantz, to help steer the investigation — waged a pressure campaign on one of Mr. Trump’s most loyal lieutenants. They targeted Allen H. Weisselberg, his financial gatekeeper for decades.

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Allen Weisselberg, left, the financial gatekeeper of the Trump Organization, refused to implicate its namesake.Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times

Prosecutors began amassing evidence that Mr. Weisselberg had orchestrated a long-running tax scheme in which he awarded himself off-the-books perks including a rent-free apartment and leased Mercedes-Benzes. When Mr. Weisselberg resisted the pressure to cooperate with prosecutors against Mr. Trump, they obtained an indictment against him and the Trump Organization, the former president’s business.

Mr. Pomerantz and another leader of the inquiry, Carey R. Dunne, pushed ahead with the investigation into Mr. Trump’s financial statements. That inquiry had been joined and jump-started by lawyers from the office of Letitia James, the New York attorney general, who had been conducting a separate civil inquiry.

By the end of 2021, Mr. Vance had authorized them to present evidence to a grand jury in hopes of securing an indictment, but his time was running out. He had not sought re-election, and his successor, Alvin L. Bragg, was set to take over on Jan. 1. The call on whether to indict Mr. Trump was his to make.

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The decision on whether to proceed with a prosecution fell to Alvin L. Bragg, the current district attorney.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

In the early weeks of Mr. Bragg’s tenure, the new district attorney developed concerns about whether his office could prove that Mr. Trump intended to defraud the banks and insurance companies that received his financial statements. He soon decided not to seek an indictment of Mr. Trump, prompting Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne to resign in protest.

Yet his office continued to investigate. In November, it became clear that Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors had again begun to examine the hush money payment. And in December, the office secured the conviction of the Trump Organization in the unrelated tax fraud case involving the off-the-books perks. Mr. Bragg’s star witness at trial was Mr. Weisselberg, who had pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme, but still refused to turn on Mr. Trump himself.

After the year-end holidays, Mr. Bragg gathered a new grand jury to hear evidence about Mr. Trump. Rather than focus on his financial statements, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors began calling witnesses to testify to the jury about the hush money. The long-running investigation had come full circle.

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Chelsia Rose Marcius
March 30, 2023, 7:00 p.m. ET

All uniformed members of the New York Police Department need to be “prepared for deployment” after the indictment against Trump, according to an internal police memo obtained by The New York Times. The memo, issued just after 5:30 p.m., said all members must “remain prepared for mobilization at any time during their assigned tour.”

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Michael Rothfeld
March 30, 2023, 6:51 p.m. ET

This is the sordid story behind the hush-money deal.

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The initial encounter between Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels in 2006 did not at the time appear likely to make history.Credit...Rebecca Noble for The New York Times, Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The seeds of Donald J. Trump’s indictment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office were planted 17 years ago, at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada, where he met Stormy Daniels in July 2006.

At the time, Mr. Trump was the 60-year-old star of “The Apprentice,” a reality show in which contestants competed in a test of their business acumen. She was a 27-year-old pornographic film star and director.

According to Ms. Daniels’s account, Mr. Trump invited her to his hotel room for dinner. As they chatted, he told her he could make her a guest on his show, and the evening turned intimate. Mr. Trump denies that any of that occurred.

As Ms. Daniels tells it, Mr. Trump called her occasionally after that night, nicknaming her “Honeybunch.” They saw each other at least twice more in 2007, but they did not sleep together again. And Mr. Trump never put her on “The Apprentice.”

Then, in 2011, as Mr. Trump explored a campaign for the presidency, Ms. Daniels — bitter over his purported broken promise — looked into selling the story of their liaison, according to her account and people involved in the events. Through an agent, she negotiated a $15,000 deal with Life & Style, a celebrity magazine, giving an interview and passing a lie-detector test. But when the magazine called Mr. Trump’s company for comment, his fixer, Michael Cohen, threatened to sue, killing the story.

Mr. Trump, for his part, dropped his plans to run for president and continued hosting “The Apprentice.”

That October, Ms. Daniels’s story about Mr. Trump surfaced briefly, after her agent, Gina Rodriguez, leaked it to a gossip blog called “The Dirty,” trying to gin up interest from a paying publication. A couple of media outlets followed up on the blog post. But no one paid, Ms. Daniels denied the story and a lawyer had the post taken down.

In the spring of 2016, with Mr. Trump running for president for real, Ms. Daniels’s agent approached media outlets, including The National Enquirer, to sell her story again. But they had no takers, in part because she had denied it was true back in 2011.

The dynamics changed a month before the election. On Oct. 7, 2016, The Washington Post published the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Mr. Trump, unwittingly on a live microphone, was recorded describing in lewd terms how he groped women.

The people surrounding Ms. Daniels immediately realized that the tape made Mr. Trump vulnerable. After the emergence of the recording, the disclosure that he had cheated on his wife with a porn star three months after his son was born could derail any chance he had left to win the election.

Ms. Rodriguez began negotiating with The Enquirer, whose publisher, David Pecker, was a friend of Mr. Trump’s who had promised to buy and suppress negative stories about him during the campaign. But Mr. Pecker declined to pay Ms. Daniels.

Instead, The Enquirer’s editor, Dylan Howard, connected Mr. Cohen to a lawyer for Ms. Daniels. They negotiated a $130,000 nondisclosure agreement three days after the “Access Hollywood” tape emerged.

Mr. Cohen has said that Mr. Trump approved the deal. After a delay of several weeks, Mr. Cohen drew the money from his personal home equity line of credit and wired it to Ms. Daniels’s lawyer from a shell company he had set up. Both Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels signed the agreement. Mr. Trump did not.

Ms. Daniels remained silent, and Mr. Trump won the election. After he became president, Mr. Trump and his company reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the hush money and falsely recorded those payments as legal fees.

Ken Bensinger
March 30, 2023, 6:43 p.m. ET

Trump's sons wasted little time speaking up. Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s oldest son, opened his podcast “Triggered” on Thursday saying he had heard the news 15 minutes earlier. “This is stuff that would make Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, it would make them blush,” he said, adding a warning to Republicans who he said don’t support his father: “Just wait until they come for you, because they will.”

Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, tweeted: “This is third world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.”

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Alan Feuer
March 30, 2023, 6:40 p.m. ET

Trump’s lawyers handling his federal investigations have privately said that the New York indictment will be test case of public opinion as criminal charges become a reality. They are watching closely for any backlash against Mr. Bragg that could affect the federal special counsel, Jack Smith.

Charlie Savage
March 30, 2023, 6:40 p.m. ET

A caveat: As a flood of commentary assessing the weight and merits of the indictment fills cable television news and social media, it is important to stress that we have not seen the charges. Nobody talking in public right now actually knows what Bragg’s theory of the case is. Assuming it’s correct that this is primarily a bookkeeping fraud case, the crucial question is what other intended crime does Bragg contend the falsification of Trump Organization records was meant to conceal. All the commentary about it being a campaign-finance crime relies on guesswork. That could prove correct, but may also turn out to be entirely wrong or subject to some important twist that we do not yet understand. It would be wise to take all the legal analysis for now with a big grain of salt.

William K. RashbaumKate Christobek
March 30, 2023, 6:37 p.m. ET

William K. Rashbaum and

Here’s what we know about the grand jury that indicted Donald Trump.

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Little is known about the members of the grand jury hearing testimony in the Trump case, and its work is conducted in secret.Credit...Todd Heisler/The New York Times

After a nearly five-year investigation, prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office concluded that criminal charges against Donald J. Trump were warranted.

But prosecutors don’t indict. Grand juries do. And in this case, Mr. Trump was indicted by a special grand jury impaneled earlier this year by the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg.

The panel was made up of 23 Manhattan residents, chosen at random. Special grand jury members are sworn in to serve for months at a time to hear complex cases, rather than for 30 days, as is the case with regular grand juries that bring charges in connection with more run-of-the-mill crimes.

This particular special grand jury heard testimony from at least eight witnesses and most likely reviewed a host of documents related to Mr. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star. For more than a month, the prosecutors presented evidence to the panel, which met three afternoons a week.

Mr. Trump also had a right to testify before the grand jury. He declined to do so, but under New York law, a person who is expected to be indicted can request that a witness appear on his or her behalf. In this case, Mr. Trump’s lawyers suggested that the grand jury hear from a lawyer who could attack the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness, Michael D. Cohen.

By law, the proceedings were kept secret, and the indictment under seal, until Mr. Bragg publicly announces the charges.

It was not a foregone conclusion that the grand jury would indict Mr. Trump, but such panels routinely vote to bring the charges that prosecutors seek. Defense lawyers have no direct role in grand jury proceedings.

After they presented their case, the prosecutors would have read the relevant law to the jurors, outlining the elements of the crime or crimes that they asked the panel to consider. Then they would direct the jurors to vote on whether there is “legally sufficient” evidence and “reasonable cause” to believe that Mr. Trump committed the crime. To secure an indictment, a majority of the panel members must agree.

The “reasonable cause” threshold is a significantly lower standard than the one required to convict a defendant at trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury of 12 people whose decision must be unanimous.

An earlier grand jury voted in 2021 to indict Mr. Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization, and its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, on tax-related charges. Mr. Weisselberg ultimately pleaded guilty and testified at the company’s trial, which ended in a conviction.

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Shane Goldmacher
March 30, 2023, 6:34 p.m. ET

The timing of Trump’s indictment coincides with the end-of-quarter fundraising rush. Republicans expect the news to boost the Trump campaign’s financial bottom line during what would already be one of the busiest times for online donations.

Maggie Haberman
March 30, 2023, 6:33 p.m. ET

A large group of former Trump Organization employees is sending texts quietly cheering the latest developments, a reminder of how many people have felt burned in various ways by Trump over the years.

Katie Glueck
March 30, 2023, 6:30 p.m. ET

A range of Democratic-leaning organizations, lawmakers and party officials are beginning to weigh in, casting the indictment as a critical accountability measure. “Trump is being held accountable for breaking the law,” said Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party.

“This indictment is a long overdue step in holding Trump accountable for his flagrant disregard for our laws and democracy,” said Jessica Velasquez, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. “The legal system is finally holding him accountable for past transgressions, but it’s up to the voters to hold him accountable in his current run for president.”

Katie Glueck
March 30, 2023, 6:28 p.m. ET

A representative for the Democratic National Committee, Ammar Moussa, acknowledged the indictment in a brief statement, saying that “no matter what happens in Trump’s upcoming legal proceedings, it’s obvious the Republican Party remains firmly in the hold of Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.” The statement then pivoted to lashing Republicans over abortion rights, Social Security and Medicare and democracy.

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Maggie Haberman
March 30, 2023, 6:27 p.m. ET

Mr. Trump has been keeping a relatively normal schedule at Mar-a-Lago over recent weeks, dining with guests at the club, playing golf and telling nearly anyone he spoke to what a good mood he was in and how he believed the Bragg case had fallen apart. That was true through the weekend. Several aides said that was a mask for deep anxiety about the possibility of being arrested. He was also trying to tamp down his own behavior, after he posted to his social media site a news article with an image of Bragg on one side and Trump holding a baseball bat on the other. Trump’s lawyers were alarmed that he was doing himself damage. He didn’t repeat the act.

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Credit...Josh Ritchie for The New York Times
Maggie HabermanJonah E. Bromwich
March 30, 2023, 6:27 p.m. ET

Trump denounces indictment as ‘political persecution.’

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Credit...Christopher Lee for The New York Times

Donald J. Trump responded to the news that he had been indicted in a statement, calling the Manhattan grand jury vote “political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

Mr. Trump’s statement echoed what has been an extraordinary and blistering effort to try to prevent the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, from indicting him.

Still, it was remarkable in how aggressive it was against the prosecution, and a signal of what else may come.

“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable,” he wrote. “Indicting a completely innocent person.”

Mr. Trump framed the investigation that resulted in the indictment as the latest in the long line of criminal inquiries he has faced, none of which have resulted in charges.

The specifics of the Manhattan indictment are not yet known, but the charges are expected to center on Mr. Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to a porn star in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

“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,” he said.

And he continued to paint the investigation as a larger conspiracy forwarded by his political opponents. Though he called Mr. Bragg a “disgrace” in his statement, he chose to lay the blame at the feet of his successor in the Oval Office.

“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” he said.

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