Donald Trump is expected to surrender to authorities in Manhattan on Tuesday and appear in court for the first time as a criminal defendant to face more than two dozen felony charges, a remarkable spectacle that will play out before a divided nation.

The charges, the first ever against a former American president, stem from a hush-money payment to a porn star that was made days before Trump was elected in 2016. He is expected to be accused of playing a role in covering up the payment, even as he led the nation as commander-in-chief.

New York Police Department officers patrol outside 100 Centre Street in New York where former President Donald Trump is scheduled for arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court New York Times News Service

Trump will likely arrive in the afternoon at the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building, where he will be arrested and fingerprinted. However, special accommodations will be made for the former president: He will only spend a short time in custody before his court appearance and he likely won’t be handcuffed or have a mug shot taken.

Amid fears of protests and Trump-inspired threats, the day’s events will be highly choreographed by the Secret Service, the New York City Police Department, court security and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has been investigating Trump for nearly five years.

New York Times News Service

Trump, who was indicted last week, has denied all wrongdoing, and the charges he faces will likely remain under seal until he appears in court for his arraignment on Tuesday afternoon.

That appearance, during which Trump will enter a plea, will unfold against the backdrop of his third run for the White House. Trump’s indictment has thrown the race for the Republican nomination — which he leads in most polls — into uncharted territory.

His surrender will be the culmination of a monthslong drama that first centered on the question of whether he would be indicted, and soon broadened to include speculation about how he would respond.

He has alternately fretted about and blustered over the prospect of an arrest, while his aides have leveraged the indictment to ramp up fundraising and push primary rivals into an awkward dance between criticizing prosecutors and backing Trump.

A supporter of former President Donald Trump holds a “Trump 2024” flag near Trump Tower New York Times News Service

Here’s what else you need to know:

— The case, brought in the city that made Trump famous as a businessman and tabloid fixture turned reality television star, involves a $130,000 hush-money payment that his fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the final days of the 2016 campaign. The payment, which Cohen has said he made at Trump’s direction, ensured that Daniels would not go public with her story of a sexual liaison with Trump.

— A conviction is no sure thing. The case appears to hinge on a novel application of the law and on the testimony of Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to federal charges involving the hush money and lying to Congress and served more than a year in prison. Trump’s lawyers will likely use that to attack the credibility of Cohen, who broke from the former president in 2018 after the hush-money deal came to light.

— Trump has denied any sexual encounter with Daniels. And he has lashed out at the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, who is Black and a Democrat, with threatening and at times racist language. He has also called on his followers to “PROTEST” his arrest, language reminiscent of his rhetoric in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

— Trump faces several other inquiries that may result in charges. His actions surrounding his electoral defeat and his handling of sensitive documents are the focus of federal investigations. And a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Trump’s attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

— Trump has spent nearly a half-century fending off criminal charges. He was first investigated in New York in the late 1970s, an episode that set the tone for how he dealt with prosecutors for decades.