specific charges. those would not be revealed until an arraignment. they said. that s because they want to treat this exactly like any other case, but erin, of course, this is not like any other case, but what will happen between now and an arrangement or they will have to negotiate. the terms of a self surrender, and we know the former president certainly intends to cooperate. he wants to appear in person like any other person would in this kind of process because he believes that leaning into this could be politically advantageous. but to take a step back, erin, there are some political questions here. the former president s legal team argues that this is politically motivated. this is something that happened seven years ago. this investigation has been going on for five years. it s unclear why this is suddenly heated up again, though . in the past few days, the district attorney s office has been amplifying the argument that even though this appears to just be a paperwork, crime hus
district attorney s office that the way this would play out would be the grand jury would vote on an indictment. it would be filed under seal, and then they would notify defense attorneys. that there had been an indictment but not necessarily the charges. they told me about 10 days ago that they really wanted to treat this as they would any other case. but, of course, one of the biggest questions wolf right now is what exactly are the charges here? there s been a lot of speculation about what exactly the case would look like. would it be a misdemeanor? would it be a felony? would it be a series of charges? that s what we re trying to figure out right now. one of the interesting to know i m asking his attorneys if they were informed of the specific charges, because that was not the plan that prosecutors had at least as of several days ago, and the next step will be this process of negotiating a self surrender. but unlike ordinary citizens, this requires new york law enforcement to parti
that the former president with self surrender to come here in manhattan, where he would be processed, just like any other defendant, although he is not like any other defendant because he is the former president, so we ll see an increased security presence when he does come in for his arraignment, but he will go through the regular process of being having his mug shot, taken having himself fingerprinted. and then going before a judge who will ask him to enter a plea before he will be released on bail. certainly a historic moment today, the first time a former president has ever been indicted on any charges after leaving office wolf it s absolutely historic. indeed we will watch it unfold and we ll see what specific charges are being leveled against the former president. of the united states. sarah murray is joining us right now as well. i know you re working your sources. sarah. what else are you learning wolf? i mean, i think it s just sort of sort of telling how this came about how t
about seven years ago. this has been under investigation for fin recent months this investigation has heated up. once again, we ve seen a parade of high profile witnesses. close associates, other former president going before the grand jury to testify and there was anticipation that this investigation was finally coming to an end. and sarah and john just reported appears the grand jury has voted to indict. now the district attorney has been under some pressure. he has been criticized for by some for not pursuing this more aggressively. and then when this investigation heated up again, some people questioned whether he should go ahead with this, arguing that this was not one of the more significant investigations the former president would face. clearly today, they moved forward with the grand jury to get an indictment as it has been explained to us by the da s office. what will happen next is that is expected to be filed under seal, and then they will have to negotiate a self surrender
indictment but not necessarily the charges. then they would work together both sides to negotiate a self surrender an initial appearance work together on those logistics, told that the former president would absolutely surrender. they would negotiate an initial appearance if he s indicted this week. that wouldn t be until next week. now when might it leak? well based on my years and years of reporting on the former president, his attorneys, i think once his defense team knows they will likely inform their clients and at that point , it is possible that we could get a truth social post or something on social media, because that s of course what he did with mara lago. he broke the news about the duly executed search warrants. he framed it as a raid. if he can break the news . he can frame it the way he wants, and again at that point, we could be acting in the absence of any knowledge about exactly what the charge prosecutors won t make a public statement about an indictment. they won t h