What does an indictment mean for Trump? When will he be arraigned?

Donald Trump has become the first former US president to face criminal charges after a New York grand jury voted to indict him. On Thursday it was reported that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg notified his defense team of the historic decision.

While the specific charges that the ex-president and current front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 have not been announced, they are in relation to his part in allegedly paying porn star Stormy Daniel hush money in 2016 to keep the affair she claims they had a decade prior quiet before the presidential election that year. The indictment will be unsealed sometime early next week when Trump is expected to be arraigned. So, what will be the process and what does the indictment mean for the former president?

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What does an indictment mean for Trump?

The New York grand jury found probable cause that Trump committed a crime in relation to the hush-money payments they have been investigating. They voted on Thursday evening to indict the former president, something that caught him and his lawyers off-guard according to CNN. The members were supposed to go on a month-long break leading the defense to think that if any charges were coming they wouldn’t be announced for several weeks.

Now that the DA has informed Trump’s lawyers of the indictment, they would most likely negotiate his surrender to authorities voluntarily, which is typical in these types of white-collar criminal cases. However, Trump has expressed a wish to be taken in in handcuffs to turn his arrest into a “spectacle”.

Should he refuse to voluntarily turn himself in, prosecutors would need to extradite him from Florida where Trump currently resides. Which could provide a whole other spectacle as Governor Ron DeSantis has said Florida “will not assist in any extradition request” calling the indictment “un-American”.

When will Trump be arraigned?

Should Trump surrender to New York authorities, it is expected that he will be arraigned early next week. This usually takes place at a police precinct but could happen at the district attorney’s office.

First, he will be processed having his mugshot and finger prints taken followed by the unsealing of the charges against him in a courtroom. Then the judge would decide whether or not he needed to pay bail or follow certain restrictions until trial. The trial itself would probably happen until sometime next year in the middle of the 2024 campaign, even potentially after the election due to take place in which Trump hopes to be the GOP candidate.

Will Trump be put in jail?

It is unlikely that Trump would find himself behind bars for any of the potential charges that may be levied against him. While they do carry potential jail time, they are low-level felonies. And since he is a first-time offender for a non-violent crime, it would be unusual for him to be sentenced to prison.