Trump is charged in a court in New York. The charges against the former president remain classified and will not be announced until the initial court hearing on Tuesday, when Trump is expected to appear in court.
It is supposed to involve several criminal suspicions, of which at least one is a serious crime that can result in a prison sentence, two anonymous sources with insight into the indictment told the AP news agency.
The investigation has been about the fact that the former porn actor Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, received 130,000 dollars before Trump’s election campaign in 2016 not to tell that she and Trump had a relationship.
The payment itself is not illegal, but according to the sources, prosecutors are targeting the accounting of the payment.
Trump’s formal surrender to the judiciary follows negotiations between his lawyers, the judiciary and security agencies in the United States.
The presidential candidate will be forced to go through formal procedures such as when a police photo, so-called mug shot, is to be taken. But he does not have to wear handcuffs, say his lawyers. He will also have the Secret Service by his side and will almost certainly be released on the same day.