By Karen Freifeld, Luc Cohen and Tyler Clifford
NEW&nbsp;YORK&nbsp;(Reuters) -Donald&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the&nbsp;first&nbsp;former U.S.&nbsp;president&nbsp;to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House.
The specific charges are not yet known, as the indictment remains under seal. CNN on Thursday reported&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud.
Trump&nbsp;said he was "completely innocent" and indicated he would not drop out of the 2024&nbsp;presidential race. He accused Bragg, a Democrat, of trying to hurt his chances of winning re-election against Democratic&nbsp;President&nbsp;Joe Biden.
"This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," he said in a statement.
Shortly after,&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense. He has raised over $2 million, according to his campaign, since he incorrectly predicted on March 18 that he would be arrested four days later.
Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination according to polling, received support from a number of his potential challengers on Thursday including Florida Governor Ron Desantis and former Vice&nbsp;President&nbsp;Mike Pence.
"This will only further serve to divide our country," Pence said.
While the White House did not comment, Democrats said&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;was not immune from the rule of law.
"I encourage both Mr.&nbsp;Trump&rsquo;s critics and supporters to let the process proceed peacefully and according to the law," said the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.
The charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days.&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;will have to travel to Manhattan for fingerprinting and other processing at that point.
Bragg's office said it had contacted&nbsp;Trump's attorney to coordinate a surrender, which a court official said would likely occur next Tuesday.
Trump's lawyers Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said they will "vigorously fight" the charges.
The Manhattan investigation is one of several legal challenges facing&nbsp;Trump.
Bragg successfully prosecuted&nbsp;Trump's business last year on tax-fraud charges, leading to a $1.61 million criminal penalty.
The presiding judge in that case,&nbsp;New&nbsp;York&nbsp;Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is&nbsp;expected to oversee this case as well, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump&nbsp;could&nbsp;use the case to stoke anger among his core supporters, though other Republican voters might tire of the drama. Some 44% of Republicans said he should drop out of the race if he is indicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week.
Outside the courthouse, several protesters silently held signs criticizing&nbsp;Trump. Authorities bolstered security around the courthouse after&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;called for nationwide protests on March 18, recalling his&nbsp;charged&nbsp;rhetoric ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
HUSH MONEY
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she received money in&nbsp;exchange for keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;in 2006.
The former&nbsp;president's personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said he coordinated with&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;on the payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a sexual relationship with him.&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;has denied having affairs with either woman.
Trump&nbsp;in 2018 initially disputed knowing anything about the payment to Daniels. He later acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he called a "simple private transaction."
"No one is above the law," Daniels' lawyer Clark Brewster said on Twitter.
Cohen pleaded guilty to a campaign-finance violation in 2018 and served more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors said he acted at&nbsp;Trump's direction.
Cohen said he stood by his testimony and the evidence he provided to prosecutors. "Accountability matters," he said in a statement.
No former or sitting U.S.&nbsp;president&nbsp;has ever faced criminal charges.
Aside from this case,&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;faces two criminal investigations by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and another criminal probe by a local prosecutor in Georgia.
Trump&nbsp;has escaped legal peril numerous&nbsp;times. In the White House, he weathered two attempts by Congress to remove him from office, including for the Jan. 6, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, as well as a years-long probe into his campaign's contacts with Russia in 2016.
In last year's tax-fraud trial, the Manhattan District Attorney's office targeted&nbsp;Trump's business but declined to charge&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;himself with financial crimes.
In the hush-money case, legal&nbsp;experts say Bragg is&nbsp;expected to argue&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;falsified business records to cover up another crime, such as violating federal campaign-finance law, which makes it a felony.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld, additional reporting by Reuters bureaus, writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham, Noeleen Walder, Daniel Wallis, Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln Feast.)

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Trump criminally charged in New York, a first for a US ex-president