As just hours from now, former President
Donald Trump is set to face a je
in New York City, something thae
United States has never seen be.
A president indicted on criminal charges.
Now President Trump is expectedo
turn himself in early this afternoon.
This was the moment he arrived n
New York from his Mar a Lago ret
yesterday and this morning we have team
coverage on what we can expect today.
Megan Mitchell will walk us
through what comes next for Mr.
Trump and Chris Sodgi will look
at the impact this could have
on the 2024 presidential race.
Also want to say?
Good morning again to our senior
political reporter, Jason Wiley,
who joins us for what is expectg
to be a very unprecedented day.
This will be something watched worldwide
this afternoon when it actually unfolds.
You know, the legal process that
does unfold this afternoon is gg
to be happening in Manhattan.
It's very routine.
But the defendant in this case,
as we all know, is anything but this morning,
New York City bracing for something the
country has never seen a former.
President surrendering.
On criminal charges, here's a le
look right now outside Trump To,
where the former president
is waking up this morning.
Early this afternoon,
about 1:15 Dallas time,
a motorcade will drive Donald Tp
4 miles South to the Manhattan
Criminal Courthouse that's justa
few blocks from the Brooklyn Br.
If you're familiar with lower Manhattan,
the courthouse has been cleared of other
routine business so Trump can be booked in.
He can be fingerprinted, photographed,
and then stand before a judge,
where he will enter an initial a
of either guilty or not guilty.
This case if you've been.
And following it surrounds payments to
adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep
quiet about an alleged extramarital affair.
Trump denies that affair and sas
he's innocent of these charges.
But we'll be watching for two
things this afternoon.
First, how will this physically play out?
What will it look like?
And 2nd,
what are the charges that a Newk
grand jury indicted him on last week?
We will not know those specific
counts until they are unsealed
this afternoon by a New York ju.
This morning,
New York City has all 35,000 or
so police officers on standby in
case they need to be called in.
Let's bring in Megan Mitchell nw
with a little more information
and to show really how New York
is preparing ending for exactly
what we'll see this afternoon.
Megan.
Yeah, Jason, and you laid it ou.
Well, we want to kind of bring you up
to date on the newest informatif
both what we can expect inside and then
outside that courtroom in New Y.
So let's start with inside news outlets.
Not going to be allowed to
broadcast the arraignment today.
In a decision late last night,
Judge Juan Merchant says that he will
allow five photographers to cape
still photos for a few minutes before
the formal start of that arraignment.
Video cameras, however,
they are not going to be allowe,
nor will any electronics of any kind.
Here is a live look outside
of the Manhattan DA's office.
You see those metal barriers outside as
security gets ramped up and of course,
as President Trump told his
supporters to protest.
Well, a number of supporters of
the president posted up outsidef
Trump Tower as he arrived yeste.
The NYPD and Secret Service have
been working to secure that are,
and the Mayor of New York City
said there are no credible thres
to the city at this time.
We also tweeted out while you're in our city,
be on your best behavior.
As always,
we will not allow violence
or vandalism of any kind.
And if someone is caught
participating in any act of violence,
they will be arrested and held
accountable no matter who you a.
One big unknown here is if Trump
will have that mugshot taken and
if that will be made public.
We're going to get over to
Chris Attaghi right now.
And Chris,
no doubt this case is going to
affect the political landscape
and the race for the White Hous.
How's it looking?
Just
making it is already a political
battleground, with Trump and opponents
no doubt looking forward to 2024
and how to strategically frame s
case from Trump's side of thing.
They want to present it as an
overzealous DA politically motid
attack and overreach a District
Attorney with ulterior motives.
But his campaign also released a
memo over the weekend claiming p
received a boost in polling nums
after the indictment was announ.
And ABC News.
Poll found most of the people ad
believe Trump should be charged,
but as you might imagine,
that number is split heavily alg
party lines whether you identify
as a Republican or a Democrat.
But the same poll found that 47%
do seem to think the charges
are politically motivated,
while 32% say no and 20% are not sure.
Now even even other Republicanso
could be Trump's opponents in te
primary have come to his aid and saying
that they also believe it is a political.
Floyd,
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Nikki Haley among them.
However, one candidate,
former Arkansas Governor ASA Hutchinson,
said this weekend that he belies
Trump should withdraw from the e
because he thinks this indictmet
will be a sideshow and a distraction.
Back to you, Mark,
Kara and Jason.
I mean, it's definitely going to be a
sideshow, but I think we know that one
of the questions I have for Jason this
morning that I've seen thrown around,
heard discussed about is this nl
legal theory. So what does thatn
and and what do we know about it? Well,
that's something that a lot of
folks on the right and some legl
professors are talking about.
We're not going to know what ths
novel legal theory is until the judge
unseals the charges this aftern.
There are said to be 30 something counts,
maybe 20 something counts,
is what some people are reporti.
When those charges are unsealed,
we'll know exactly what the
grand jury indicted Trump on.
And at that point you can bet
there will be a lot of people
talking about the charges he fa.
But you mentioned those
charges and the number of them.
But this is just one case
and he's got several other
massive investigations. He
faces a criminal investigation in Georgia
for for perhaps pressuring that that state
to overturn what happened 20 in 2020.
He also faces investigation in DC for
what happened around January 6th there.
There's a lot of other things swirling
around this, but this is going
to be a distraction for a while.
Still. It has to play it.
Self out in the court system fi.
OK. Thank you, Jason.
So our coverage will continue at 6:30.
We're going to have a legal expt
join us to breakdown the case and ABC
will have full coverage of todas
arraignment that begins on Good
Morning America at 7:00 o'clock.