Pence: Indictment of Trump "is an outrage"
Former Vice President Mike Pence called the grand jury indictment of Donald Trump an "outrage."
"I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage," he said Thursday night, speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer during a CNN Primetime interview.
He said the indictment appears “for millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution."
Pence said charging the former president is a "disservice to the country" that will only divide people further.
"I think the American people will look at this and see it as one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country," he said.
Stormy Daniels' wasn't surprised and is relieved about Trump indictment, attorney says
Clark Brewster, the attorney of adult film star Stormy Daniels, said he was the one to share the news of Thursday's indictment with his client.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer releases statement on Trump indictment
From CNN's Samantha Beech
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released the following statement after the announcement of Donald Trump's indictment:
Manhattan grand jury heard from another witness before indictment vote, source says
From CNN's John Miller
Before the Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald Trump on Thursday, a witness gave about 30 minutes of testimony, a source familiar with the case tells CNN.
The witness’s identity isn’t publicly known. Grand jury proceedings are secret.
Trump expected to appear in court Tuesday for arraignment
From CNN's Kara Scannell, Kaitlan Collins, Lauren del Valle and Evan Perez
Former President Donald Trump is expected to appear in court Tuesday for his arraignment, multiple sources tell CNN.
Judge Juan Merchan is expected to preside, one source said.
SOON: Former Vice President Mike Pence joins CNN's Wolf Blitzer in one-on-one conversation
Former Vice President Mike Pence will join CNN's Wolf Blitzer for a one-on-one CNN Primetime conversation at 9 p.m. ET tonight.
The interview comes just hours after the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump by a Manhattan grand jury, marking the first time in American history that a current or former president will face criminal charges.
The CNN conversation also comes just days after a judge ruled Pence must testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to January 6.
Trump team will roll out surrogates and track who is loyal to him following indictment, according to sources
From CNN's Kristen Holmes
Former President Donald Trump and his team will be rolling out surrogates beginning Friday to hit Democrats, the investigation and District Attorney Alvin Bragg across various forms of media as they work to shape the public narrative, according to sources close to Trump.
His team will also keep track of members of Congress and 2024 potential Republican hopefuls who defend Trump. They plan to blast out those responses and likely go after those who do not rally around the former president.
Trump's team, while caught off guard by the timing of the indictment, has been working on a media plan to respond to the potential charges for the last two weeks.
Several advisers said that they were learning many of the details of the indictment and potential arraignment from media reports. There have been preliminary conversations on what getting Trump in and out of New York will look like.
McConnell and Thune silent so far on indictment as Scott calls to investigate Manhattan DA
From CNN's Manu Raju
House GOP leaders have rushed to former President Donald Trump's defense, which shows the GOP's division over Trump, as top Senate Republicans Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Thune have remained silent.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott is calling on Senate leadership to support House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s efforts to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
"I fully support speaker McCarthy's efforts to investigate this. We are now living in a nation where people can't trust the legal process, FBI, DOJ, or IRS … and I will do all I can in the Senate to support @SpeakerMcCarthy's efforts. I call on Senate leadership to do the same," Scott tweeted Thursday.
Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud, sources tell CNN
From CNN's John Miller
Former President Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case.
Earlier Thursday, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the office has contacted Trump's attorney to "coordinate his surrender" for arraignment on "a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal."
"Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected," it added.
Trump will likely appear in court early next week, his defense attorney said.
CNN's Kara Scannell contributed reporting to this post.