This is the beat. I'm Ari Melbert. It's March 31st, 2023, and we are reporting on the first filing in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

You may not have seen this yet. It's brand new. And it's formalized by a court document that lists this case for the first time, the people of the state of New York versus Donald J. Trump defendant.

What you see on your screen, and we've highlighted the key word there, is actually a first.

For all of Mr. Trump's legal scuffles and civil cases, which end in payments, not prison, even if you lose.

This is the first time he's been on the other side of the government, the people of the state

of New York versus this criminal defendant. We have this new order from a judge. It marks the

formal opening of this case file. It notes the indictment,

which is called a true bill. You see that there, was returned by the grand jury. You can think of

the words true bill as equivalent legally to indictment or charges. And under that piece of legal

terminology or jargon, we learn that there is a true bill. There are charges,

a judge authorizing the DA to publicly acknowledge that yesterday. So again, you see this.

We got this today. It was formally filed in the court system yesterday. I'm going to explain to you

why this is important, why I'm showing you this, but you see the date right at the top there.

March 30th, 2023, this is new, this is formal, this is real.

Now, this ruling was not technically public yesterday, but it was legally implied.

We know that because a DA cannot legally discuss a sealed indictment without judicial approval.

So as the DA contacted Trump's lawyers to arrange for his booking, which we've now been hearing

about, and Word appeared to informally sort of start leaking out, but we can now see what the

DA did, which is by the book. It's what you're supposed to do. The DA immediately asked the judge

overseeing this new case for clearance, not to unseal the whole indictment. We don't have it yet. But for clearance

to even confirm the mere fact, the single assertion, that there was an indictment, that there was a

true bill. And that news hit like a thunder clap across America and the world last night into today.

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