On Friday morning, the streets around the courthouse were calm but the barricades were going up in anticipation of what may come next week.

Police officers were on patrol and security plans were being put into place. Many expect the area to go into lockdown when the former president attends court.

The district attorney's office had initially asked Mr Trump to surrender on Friday, according to Politico, but the request was rejected because more time was needed for security preparations.

Mr Trump, 76, denies wrongdoing. He is the first serving or former US president to face a criminal charge.

It is unclear how many charges are contained in the indictment, which is still sealed.

Media reports have said the ex-president faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud and Mr Tacopina said on Thursday he thought there would be 34. But on Friday, he said he did not know how many.

"We know what the subject matter is, we know the basis of the charges. We don't know the exact counts or how they're formulated," he said.

On Friday Mr Trump began attacking the judge assigned to his case in an effort to undermine the credibility of the investigation and rally his base to his defence.

Republicans - including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy - have accused the Manhattan district attorney of weaponising the criminal justice system to influence next year's presidential election. Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who Mr Trump recently suggested should run for Senate, called on followers to protest and said she plans to be present in New York next week.

In response, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the charges had been brought by citizens of New York doing their civic duty - and neither the former president nor Congress could interfere with proceedings.