Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump may have built his real estate empire and brand here in New York, but his politics quickly alienated him in this liberal city.

The few protestors that have shown up since the news broke all celebrated his indictment.

While the streets around the courthouse are calm, there’s growing anticipation of what's to come next week when Donald Trump surrenders here.

The barricades are up, police are on patrol and security plans are in place.

Discussions between prosecutors and Trump's legal team went late into the night.

The district attorney's office reportedly asked that he turn himself in today, but Trump's lawyers said the secret service needed more time to prepare.

Many here expect this area to go into lockdown when the former president is arraigned.

Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina says the indictment is part of what the ex-president calls "political persecution".

"This is a case that would not be brought against another individual in this country if his name wasn't Donald Trump," Tacopina tells CBS.

He adds that the former president is being "pursued by a prosecutor who has obviously very diverse political views from the president. So it's a very troubling case because there's no crime here".

Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina says the former president's team didn't find out about the indictment until Thursday evening.

The team has not seen the sealed indictment, Tacopina tell the CBS Mornings show, adding that their understanding is based on media reports.

Tacopina also says they do not know what's in the indictment.

Asked what Trump says about the charges, Tacopina answers:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

US President Joe Biden has declined to comment on the situation surrounding his predecessor - Donald Trump.

Reporters gathered on the White House south lawn asked him several times about the Trump indictment.

He replied simply with: "I have no comment on Trump."

Allies of Donald Trump may be wrong to think his indictment will shore up support among Republican voters and improve his chances in the 2024 election, according to our US correspondents.

Speaking on the BBC's Americast, special correspondent Katty Kay says: "People in his world, and he himself, may think that this helps him and that it rallies his base.

"[But] being the only former American president who has ever been arrested is perhaps something that would make suburban voters think: 'Do we really want to go back there? Do we really want all of that chaos again and the drama that surrounds Donald Trump?'"

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher adds that some of Trump's allies are "talking a big game right now" but some of his rivals in the Republican Party will see the indictment as an opportunity.

"[There is definitely a sentiment] among some Republican voters, that Donald Trump - while he is a great guy, and did some great things as president - there is just too much baggage, too much drama going in," he says.

Listen to the full Americast episode on BBC Sounds

The most likely outcome is a fine, but there is also a chance Donald Trump could be sent to prison.

If any of the charges are serious - felony charges as they are known in the US - then Trump would face a maximum of four years in prison.

But legal experts tell the BBC that time behind bars is unlikely.

Read more here.

David Aronberg, a former member of the Florida state senate, told the BBC that "this is uncharted territory for us in the US."

Aronberg said that what remains to be seen is whether Trump will surrender to New York authorities or if he'll try to fight extradition from Florida, in which case the ball will be in florida governor Ron DeSantis' court - and he happens to be Trump's political opponent.

"It's only going to get more interesting from here," he said.

Aronberg also echoed the analysis of other experts who think the indictment is likely to energise Trump's base and make him "really hard to beat" in the Republican primary - "for what fuels the MAGA base is grievance and martyrdom."

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

In 2016, adult film star Stormy Daniels contacted media outlets offering to sell her account of what she said was an adulterous affair she had with Donald Trump in 2006. Trump's team got wind of this, and his lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet. This is not illegal.

However, when Trump reimbursed Cohen, the record for the payment says it was for legal fees. Prosecutors say this amounts to Trump falsifying business records, which is a misdemeanour - a criminal offence - in New York.

Prosecutors could also potentially allege that this breaks election law, because his attempt to hide his payments to Daniels were motivated by not wanting voters to know he had an affair with her. Covering up a crime by falsifying records would be a felony, which is a more serious charge.

Even advocates for prosecution acknowledge that either way, this is by no means a clear-cut case. There is little precedent for such a prosecution, and past attempts to charge politicians with crossing the line between campaign finance and personal spending have ended in failure.

As we wait to hear more about Trump's indictment, take a look at the scene outside a courthouse in New York.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier this week, a public poll recorded that a majority of Americans believe that criminal charges against Donald Trump should disqualify him from a 2024 presidential run.

The Quinnipiac University poll - released a day before Thursday's indictment - found 57% of those surveyed think criminal charges should preclude Trump from running for office again.

However there was large partisan divide, with 88% of Democrats saying they believe charges should disqualify the former President, compared to 23% of Republicans.

With regards to the New York district attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation, 62% of respondents said they believed the charges were politically motivated, although 55% also said the allegations were "very serious".

Crystal is a California resident who voted for Donald Trump twice.

Image source, CBS News

Seth Bowman who lives in California says: "When he first started running, I said 'this is the end of his empire' and I kind of feel like we're right there. It's really the time and the place where people are tired of it."

Image source, CBS News

Alison Braithwaite, a US voter, says she hopes the prosecution have enough evidence to carry the case forward and secure a conviction "if that's what he did".

Image source, CBS News

Adam Schiff is a US Democrat Representative for California: "I think it's vintage Donald Trump, which is to deflect attention away from his misconduct, in this case allegedly the payment of hush money to a porn star and to blame others for it."

Image source, CBS News

Rob Reiner is an actor and producer: "I believe he will also be indicted for stealing secret documents and taking them to Mar-a-Lago, I think he will be indicted down in Georgia, in terms of election interference and I also think for 6 January, for inciting insurrection. The great thing is that it proves there's nobody above the law."

Image source, Reuters

Here's a recap of what's been happening since news broke last night that Donald Trump will be indicted, becoming the first former US president to face criminal charges:

• Trump is expected to appear in court in New York on Tuesday
• We don't know what the charges are yet - although they are linked to a payment made to former porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an adulterous affair with Trump, which Trump allegedly recorded as a business expense. Falsifying business records is illegal in New York
• Trump has said the indictment amounts to "political persecution"
• Political analysts say that Trump might be helped by this development and will probably surge in the internal polls as Republican party nominee
• Republicans are calling the indictment an "outrage", while Democrats say no-one is above the law

Image source, Reuters

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has entered a "high stakes game" with his decision to issue an indictment against Donald Trump, according to the BBC's North America correspondent.

Speaking on the BBC's Americast, Anthony Zurcher says Bragg had a reputation for political impartiality but that he would now be under an "incredible microscope".

"There is a lot of pressure on him to have an ironclad case," he says.

"He has got to have enough evidence to be able to make a serious case against Donald Trump.

"Or he is going to be ridiculed on the right and he is going to have a lot of people on the left wondering if he has subverted all the other attempts to investigate Trump by going with this first."

As well as the Stormy Daniels case, Trump is facing legal challenges concerning his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, his alleged role in the January 2021 Capital riots, and his handling of classified documents after his time in office.

Listen to the full Americast episode on BBC Sounds

Donald Trump may face a mass of reporters and cameras when he does the "perp walk" to the New York court.

It was Trump's advisor Rudy Giuliani who elevated this spectacle in the 1980s and '90s when he was going after mob bosses and drug dealers.

This is a word we hear a lot over in the US when it comes to legal cases.

An arraignment is basically a court proceeding - where someone is formally presented with the charges against them.

The defendant is then asked to submit a plea, which is whether they will plead guilty or not guilty.

A judge then decides whether they should be released on bail or taken into custody.

New York prosecutors are still co-ordinating arrangements with Trump's team but he will have to travel from Florida to New York for his expected court appearance - or arraignment - on Tuesday.

Kayla Epstein
Senior reporter

Donald Trump is returning to a playbook he's relied on throughout multiple investigations and impeachments: deny wrongdoing and attack his accusers as politically motivated.

In the past, he has declared such inquiries, which have included two impeachments and a congressional inquiry into his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol, as "witch hunts."

At his rallies, which draw thousands of attendees, Trump has argued that the investigations he faces are are indicative of broader political persecution against his supporters.

So far, Trump is sticking to this strategy.

Trump has been indicted following a decision by a grand jury, a part of the US legal system that may need some explaining to those outside the country and unfamiliar with the process.

A grand jury is a group of citizens that hear evidence from a prosecutor ahead of a trial.

Witnesses may be called to testify in front of them and evidence is shown.

The grand jury listens and then votes in secret about whether they believe there is enough evidence to charge the person with a crime.

A separate criminal trial with another jury awaits the indicted.

Read more about a grand jury here.

If you're just joining us, here's a little recap of what the man at the centre of this case had to say earlier.

Trump said the indictment amounts to "political persecution" and "election interference at the highest level of history".

"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 in a statement.

"Never before in our nation's history has this been done," he added.

He also called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a "disgrace" and claimed he was "doing Joe Biden's dirty work".

And, speaking to ABC News by phone, Trump accused the prosecutors of "trying to impact an election," he said.

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump's indictment has promoted "scary language" to circulate among some of his supporters on social media, according to the BBC's disinformation correspondent.

Speaking on the BBC's Americast, Marianna Spring described discussions on Telegram channels used by supporters of Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims the former president is waging a secret war against a network of Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business, and media.

"There is some just quite scary language. There’s a lot of ‘the storm is upon us’ – that’s the big QAnon catchphrase," she said.

"There’s a lot of: ‘This is going to be the ultimate backfire’, ‘we’re ready when you are, Mr President’".

She added that the most extreme rhetoric is coming from a "committed minority" and that it was notable no group had yet acted on earlier calls by Trump for protests in the event of any attempt to arrest him.

Listen to the full Americast episode on BBC Sounds.