Prosecutors in New York are preparing for Donald Trump's surrender to court officials, after he became the first US president to be charged with a crime Trump's lawyer says the former president will not be handcuffed for his court appearance next Tuesday Joe Tacopina also says Trump will plead not guilty to the charges and they will "aggressively" challenge the "legal viability" of the case Prosecutors have been investigating the payment of hush money to an adult film star prior to Trump's election in 2016 Former porn star Stormy Daniels claims she had an adulterous affair with the former president, and was paid $130,000 to keep quiet The payment was legal - but Trump allegedly recorded it as a business expense. Falsifying business records is illegal in New York He denies wrongdoing, and the affair, saying the indictment is "political persecution" Trump rails against judge on his social platform 300x250 300x250_1 IFRAME SYNC 728x90 728x90_1 IFRAME SYNC A short while ago, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, again describing the case against him as a "witch hunt" - and railing against the judge who has been assigned to his case. President Biden learned about the indictment of his predecessor through reports in the media, his press secretary has said. Asked during a press briefing whether the president had been briefed in advance of the announcement, Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We found out – all of us, including the president – found out about the news yesterday just like every other American: through the news reports." An un-American outrage' - senior Republicans criticise indictment Former Vice President Mike Pence calls Trump's indictment "an outrage" and suggests that the Manhattan district attorney who is leading the case, Alvin Bragg, is politically motivated. 300x250 300x250_1 IFRAME SYNC 728x90 728x90_1 IFRAME SYNC "This will only further serve to divide our country," Pence says. Pence also says the case would "offend" the notion of the overwhelming majority of the American people "who believe in fairness, who believe in equal treatment before the law". Meanwhile, Florida's governor Ron DeSantis - widely seen as Trump's main potential opponent for the Republican presidential candidate nomination - criticised the indictment on Twitter, saying it was "un-American". "The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head," he said. DeSantis also alleged that the Manhattan district attorney was "Soros-backed" - a reference to George Soros, the philanthropist that some on the right have falsely claimed is at the heart of a global conspiracy.