What we know about Trump's rally in Waco amid possible indictment

Months after announcing his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump plans to hold his first campaign rally in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, March 25.

The political event has been scheduled even as Trump claimed he would face arrest this week. Indictment charges against the former president could be announced this week, but whether the former president is taken into custody remains to be seen.

Here's what we know about plans for the rally and the details of the indictment involving the former president.

Trump rally scheduled at Waco Regional Airport

Saturday's event is set to take place at Waco Regional Airport. Parking for the event opens at 8 a.m. local time, and doors open at noon.

Guest speakers have yet to be announced, but they will take the stage prior to Trump, who is scheduled to begin delivering remarks at 5 p.m.

Attending the event requires registration, with a maximum of two tickets per registrant.

Does choosing Waco as location for Trump rally a political message tied to a religious cult?

Experts on political violence point to the significance of choosing Waco as Trump's first rally for his 2024 campaign.

"Waco is hugely symbolic on the far-right," said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism in an interview with USA Today. "There's not really another place in the U.S. that you could pick that would tap into these deep veins of anti-government hatred — Christian nationalist skepticism of the government — and I find it hard to believe that Trump doesn't know that Waco represents all of these things."

Thirty years ago, multiple agencies, including Texas law enforcement, the U.S. military, and ATF and FBI agents, laid siege to the compound of a sect of Christians known as the Branch Davidians. Led by David Koresh, the compound was located 13 miles from Waco.

The siege began after federal officials attempted to serve a warrant for group members for illegally stockpiling weapons. Over 300 firearms and nearly 2 million rounds of ammunition were later recovered.

On the first day of the siege in late February 1993, four ART agents and four Branch Davidians were killed in a gunfight. On the final day in mid-April, the building housing the Branch Davidians caught on fire during a tear gas attack and burnt to the ground. Koresh and 75 others inside, including 25 children, died.

Dig deeper:Why experts say Trump holding his next rally in Waco, Texas sends a message to the far right

The tragedy, often framed as the "Waco massacre," spilled over into a right-wing militia movement in the 1990s and continues to sew a distrust of the federal government. It also led people like Timothy McVeigh to follow through on carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing just two years later as an act of revenge. The bombing resulted in 168 people, including 19 children, being killed.

"Waco has a sense of grievance among people that I know he's (Trump's) got to be trying to tap into," Beirich said. "He's being unjustly accused, like the Branch Davidians were unjustly accused — and the deep state is out to get them all."

Trump's indictment and Stormy Daniels payment

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg hasn't said how his office is investigating Trump. Still, a hush-money payment then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen arranged from Trump to porn actress Stormy Daniels could potentially be used to build a case for how the Trump Organization falsified business records and violated campaign finance law.

The $130,000 payment aimed to prevent her from publicizing her claim of having had sex with Trump before the 2016 election. Trump has denied wrongdoing but admitted to making the payment to Daniels. He also declined to testify before a grand jury conducting criminal proceedings in Manhattan.

If Trump's arrested, do we know if he'll be handcuffed?

Should Trump be indicted, he would become the first former president ever charged with a crime. The process of his arrest is less clear, especially because being indicted does not always mean you are arrested. Charges can also be dropped after an indictment.

His lawyers have said he will surrender and routine arrest in New York would involve Trump being fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot. But a scene of Trump being escorted by law enforcement in handcuffs in front of media cameras is potentially less likely, especially after Trump's call for supporters to "protest" his arrest in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

Learn about the process:What is an indictment? Why would Trump get arrested? Here's what we know.

A court date for an arraignment could come several days after an indictment is announced, and Trump could be released following his arraignment, too.

Whether the terms of his arrest allow Trump to leave New York and return to his home at Mar-A-Lago in Florida or a rally in Texas, remain to be seen.

— USA TODAY contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Trump rally in Waco planned amid possible indictment and arrest