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.
Trump attorney says indictment has "a complete lack of legal basis"
From CNN's Kara Scannell
Donald Trump's attorney Chris Kise called Trump’s indictment “the lowest point in history for our criminal justice system.”
Trump indictment in New York not expected to impact timing of Georgia probe
From CNN's Sara Murray and Jason Morris
The Trump indictment in New York is not expected to impact the timing of potential indictments in the criminal probe into Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia, according to a person familiar with the matter. If charges are brought in that case, indictments could come as soon as this spring.
The source said staff in the Fulton County district attorney’s office will be closely watching how the security situation plays out in New York, particularly surrounding Trump’s arraignment.
The Fulton County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the New York indictment.
The Atlanta-area special grand jury investigating whether Trump and his allies violated the law in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia recently concluded its work and recommended multiple indictments, according to the foreperson who has spoken out publicly. Now it’s up to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to make charging decisions.
Manhattan DA's office has contacted Trump’s attorney to coordinate surrender, spokesperson says
From CNN's Kara Scannell
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg released a statement Thursday saying the office has contacted former President Donald 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's sons respond to his indictment
From CNN's Alayna Treene
Two of Donald Trump's sons tweeted their responses to his indictment Thursday.
Eric Trump tweeted the indictment "is third world prosecutorial misconduct."
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted "corrupt elites" don't care about violent crimes, "but they are threatened by Trump."
Donald Trump Jr. also reacted on his "Triggered" podcast, saying he learned the news of the indictment about 15 minutes before his show.
"This is stuff that would make Mao, Stalin Pol Pot, it would make them blush. It's so flagrant. It’s so crazed,” he said.