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Manhattan’s DA wanted a Friday Trump arrest. Trump’s team said no.

Evan Vucci/AP Photo

The Manhattan district attorney’s office asked for Donald Trump to surrender on Friday following a grand jury’s vote to indict the former president.

But lawyers for Trump rebuffed the request saying that the Secret Service, which provides security detail for the former president, needed more time to prepare.

The exchange, which was relayed to POLITICO by a law-enforcement source and confirmed by Joe Tacopina, a lawyer for the former president, underscores the extremely delicate, unprecedented nature of the indictment. Until Thursday, no ex-president in history had been criminally charged. And both the charges itself and the application of them have placed the country on uncharted legal and political terrain.

A spokesperson for the D.A.’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Trump is expected to surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s office, but Tacopina said that no precise date had been set for it. Ultimately the Secret Service will have to coordinate the conditions of the surrender with court officials and the New York Police Department.

Though it is not believed that Trump will resist arrest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a likely 2024 primary opponent to Trump — said on Twitter Thursday that his state would “not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue” with Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan D.A.

DeSantis’ tweet came hours after the Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump in a case related to his hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Daniels has alleged that the two had an affair which Trump sought to keep private during the 2016 campaign.