"There's no textbook to see how you arraign a former president of the United States in criminal court," Tacopina says.
Former US president Donald Trump will not be handcuffed when he surrenders next week in New York to face criminal charges, his defence lawyer Joe Tacopina has said.
Susan Necheles, another Trump attorney, said on Friday the former president would plead not guilty.
Tacopina said, while Trump was not expected to be cuffed, he likely would be fingerprinted and undergo other routine protocols when going to court on Tuesday to face charges in an indictment handed down by a grand jury probing a hush-money payment to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
"I don't know how all this is going to go down," Tacopina cautioned in an interview.
"There's no textbook to see how you arraign a former president of the United States in criminal court."
Necheles declined to comment on details of the surrender.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tacopina said Trump and his defence team were surprised by news of the indictment.
"Initially, we were all shocked. Didn't believe they were actually going to go through with this because there's no crime here," Tacopina said.
Trump will be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken, and investigators will complete arrest paperwork and check to see if he has any outstanding criminal charges or warrants, according to a person familiar who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive security operations.
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Trump's supporters gather outside his Mar-a-Lago estate to express their disappointment with his indictment pic.twitter.com/iGCJ6F6DJ0
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'Kangaroo court!'
The 76-year-old Trump, who is hoping to recapture the White House in 2024, chimed in with attacks on the prosecutors who brought the charges against him and even the judge expected to hear the case.
"ELECTION INTERFERENCE, KANGAROO COURT!" Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Juan Manuel Marchal, the judge who may preside over an eventual trial, "hates me."
Trump's pending arrest throws a political grenade into next year's White House race, and President Joe Biden sidestepped questions from reporters about the indictment of the Republican he beat in 2020 and could potentially face again in November of next year.
"I have no comment on Trump," Biden said.
In predicting his indictment, Trump called for protests and warned it could lead to "potential death and destruction" for the country.
Extra security has been deployed for days around the downtown Manhattan courthouse where Trump is to be booked and arraigned.
Trump survived two impeachments while in the White House and kept prosecutors at bay over everything from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files.
He faces felony investigations in Georgia relating to the 2020 election and in Washington over both the classified files and the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
Top Republicans have rallied around the former president who remains the favorite to win the party's 2024 presidential nomination.
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