Source: CNN.com by Kara Scannell, Devan Cole and Sydney Kashiwagi

A yearslong probe into a hush money scheme involving former President Donald Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels has led to him being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his alleged role in the scheme, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time, one source told CNN. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.

Earlier in March, Trump had announced on social media that he anticipated he would be arrested in connection with the case, though a spokesperson for the former president said at the time that his team had not received any updates from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been leading the investigation.

The indictment against Trump is historic, marking the first time a former US president and major presidential candidate has ever been criminally charged.

Here’s what to know about the hush money investigation.

Where does the investigation stand?

Now that the grand jury has indicted Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reach out to Trump’s attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.

In the weeks leading up to the indictment, prosecutors in Bragg’s office asked Trump to appear before the grand jury investigating the matter.

The request had represented the clearest indication at the time that investigators were nearing a decision on whether to take the unprecedented step of indicting the former president since potential defendants in New York are required by law to be notified and invited to appear before a grand jury weighing charges.

The grand jury’s decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.

Focus on payments

The Manhattan DA’s investigation first began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance, when Trump was still in the White House. It relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.

At issue in the investigation is the payment made to Daniels and the Trump Organization’s reimbursement to Cohen.

According to court filings in Cohen’s own federal prosecution, Trump Org. executives authorized payments to him totaling $420,000 to cover his original $130,000 payment and tax liabilities and reward him with a bonus.

The Manhattan DA’s investigation has hung over Trump since his presidency, and is just one of several probes the former president is facing as he makes his third bid for the White House.

The potential crimes at play

Hush money payments aren’t illegal. Charges have not been made public but ahead of the indictment, prosecutors were weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying the business records of the Trump Organization for how it reflected the reimbursement of the payment to Cohen, who said he advanced the money to Daniels. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York.

Prosecutors were also weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree for falsifying a record with the intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal another crime, which in this case could be a violation of campaign finance laws. That is a Class E felony and carries a sentence of a minimum of one year and as much as four years. To prove the case, prosecutors would need to show Trump intended to commit a crime.

The Trump Organization noted the reimbursements as a legal expense in its internal books. Trump has previously denied knowledge of the payment.

A rare case

The grand jury’s decision marks a rare moment in history: Trump is the first former US president ever indicted and also the first major presidential candidate under indictment seeking office.

The former president has said he “wouldn’t even think about leaving” the 2024 race if charged.

The decision to bring charges is not without risk nor does it guarantee a conviction. Trump’s lawyers could challenge whether campaign finance laws would apply as a crime to make the case a felony, for instance.