He will be fingerprinted. He will be photographed. He may even be handcuffed.

If he surrenders on Tuesday, Donald J. Trump is expected to walk through the routine steps of felony arrest processing in New York now that a grand jury has indicted him in connection with his role in a hush-money payment to a porn star. But the unprecedented arrest of a former commander-in-chief will be anything but routine.

Accommodations may be made for Trump.

While it is standard for defendants arrested on felony charges to be handcuffed, it is unclear whether an exception will be made for a former President.

Trump will almost certainly be accompanied at every step — from the moment he is taken into custody until his appearance before a judge in Lower Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building — by armed agents of the US Secret Service. It may take several days for Trump to appear at the courthouse.

After the indictment, prosecutors contacted Trump’s defence lawyers and negotiated the terms of his surrender, a common practice in white-collar investigations. Lawyers for Trump said on Thursday that he would surrender and he was expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.

After he is arraigned, he is almost certain to be released on his own recognisance, because the indictment will likely contain only nonviolent felony charges.

Most defendants are cuffed behind their backs, but some white-collar defendants deemed to pose less danger have their hands secured in front of them.

New York Times News Service