Trump indictment: Trump faces some 2 dozen counts, including felonies, sources say
Trump has become the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges.
Donald Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on Thursday, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges.
It was not immediately clear what the indictment was connected to, or what charges Trump will face. The indictment is under seal.
Trump is expected to surrender in New York City early this week, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
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- Trump faces around 2 dozen counts, including felonies, sources say
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- Trump expected to surrender in New York early next week: Sources
Biden repeatedly declines to comment
President Joe Biden repeatedly declined to comment on the indictment when leaving the White House Friday morning to head to Mississippi.
Asked by ABC News if he had any reaction, Biden said, "No," and shook his head.
Reporters tried to get the president to comment on the issue from several different angles, but Biden did not bite each time.
Biden was asked if he was worried the indictment would further divide the country, and he said, "I have no comment on that."
Asked if he was worried about protests, Biden replied, "No, I'm not going to talk about the Trump indictment."
Later asked what the indictment said about the rule of law in this country, Biden said, "I have no comment at all on Trump."
Biden learned about the indictment through the news at the same time as the rest of the country, according to the White House press secretary.
Vice President Kamala Harris also declined to comment during a press conference in Lusaka, Tanzania.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Secret Service, NYPD, other agencies to conduct walk-through of courts building
The NYPD, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Marshals and New York State Court officers will meet on Friday to coordinate next week’s surrender of former President Donald Trump, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Representatives from the agencies will also conduct a walk-through of the criminal courts building.
The 15th floor, where presiding Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom is located, is already blocked off.
Trump has 'never been held accountable,' Cohen says
Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen said the ex-president is likely "seething" over the indictment because he's "never been held accountable."
"The fact that he is being held accountable, something that he has no desire to ever be. He's never been held accountable," Cohen told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview Friday on "Good Morning America."
"This is a man who held up the Bible and said he's never apologized to God because he's never done anything wrong," he added. "He doesn't understand accountability. And right now, [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg has finally put that into his lap."
Cohen, who is now estranged from Trump and is a key prosecution witness, said he decided years ago that his "loyalty can no longer be to a man who doesn't deserve it."
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018, after pleading guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with hush-money payments and lying to Congress, among other crimes.
During Friday's interview on "GMA," Cohen said he followed Trump's "message" for more than a decade and "that is what got me in trouble."
When asked if he feels ready to be cross-examined, Cohen replied: "Absolutely."
"The documents will speak for themselves," he added, referring to the sealed indictment.
"So, not just your testimony?" Stephanopoulos responded.
"No," Cohen said. "And it's also corroborating testimony, but it's documents."
Trump was 'shocked' by indictment, lawyer says
Donald Trump's attorney, Joe Tacopina, said the former president's initial reaction to his indictment was "shock," despite predicting his own arrest "based on rumours and leaks."
"It was shock because it's actually coming to fruition," Tacopina told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview Friday on “Good Morning America.”
"At the end of the day, we were really hoping and he was hoping that the rule of law would've prevailed," he added. "In my opinion -- and I don't say this with pride or pleasure -- in my 32 years as a lawyer, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, I feel like the rule of law died yesterday in this country."
When asked what to expect next week, Tacopina said "it's a great question."
"This is unprecedented in this country's history. I don't know what to expect other than an arraignment," he said. "I understand they're going to be closing off blocks around the courthouse, shutting down the courthouse. You know, we'll go in there and we'll proceed to see a judge at some point, plead not guilty, start talking about filing motions, which we will do immediately and very aggressively regarding the legal viability of this case."
Tacopina noted that "there is really no precedent for this case, [because] this was done with personal money."
"Statutorily, the law says this: If the payment was made with personal funds and it would've been made irrespective of the candidate's campaign, it's outside of campaign finance and, clearly, that's what you have here,” he said.
When asked whether there will be handcuffs, a mugshot or a perp walk, Tacopina responded: "I'm sure they will try to get every ounce of publicity they can out of this thing."
"The president will not be put in handcuffs," he added. "As far as a mugshot's concerned, perp walk, I mean, you know, as I said, I'm sure they'll try to make sure they get some joy out of this by parading him."
"But, you know, I think this is a different situation," he continued. "It is a lot of groups involved here and I don't think they're going to allow this to become a circus, as much as humanly possible."
When asked how concerned he is about this case and the other potential cases Trump could be facing, Tacopina said: "We have to deal with it one at a time."
"Right now, I'm dealing with this case exclusively and another civil matter for the president, but not the Fulton County case and not the special prosecutor's case at this point," he added. "And really, I'm not even thinking about those cases at all. I'm focused -- laser focused -- on this case and I'll keep all my attention here until this is resolved."
Trump's lawyer hopes his arraignment is 'typical' and quick
Trump's lawyer said on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that he doesn't know what to expect when the former president is arraigned on Tuesday in New York City, given the historic nature of Trump's indictment.
"This is unprecedented. I don't know. I've done a million arraignments in that courthouse with celebrities and whatnot. But this is a whole different thing. We have Secret Service involved. I understand they're closing the courthouse for the afternoon. I just don't know what to expect to see," Joe Tacopina told "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.
He likened the case to "persecution" and said the charges, which remain under seal, "revolved around" Trump paying money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep her from going public with a claim of an affair that Trump denies.
He told Stephanopoulos that he didn't know whether Trump would hold a press conference on Tuesday after he is arraigned.
"What I hope is that we get in and out of there as quickly as possible, that it's, at the end of the day, a typical arraignment," he said.
-ABC News' Tal Axelrod