Trump went from joking about 'golden handcuffs' to being 'irritated' and 'deflated' after the indictment: WaPo

• Trump was in good spirits — right until the indictment dropped, per The Washington Post.
• One adviser told The Post that Trump had been joking about "golden handcuffs" before the indictment.

Former President Donald Trump was joking with aides and in high spirits until the New York indictment took him and his staffers by surprise, per The Washington Post.

The Post spoke to an aide who said Trump was joking about "golden handcuffs" in the days before he was indicted. Trump also thought an indictment would not come for weeks, if at all, two advisers told The Post.

One of the two advisers the Post spoke to added that Trump quickly became "irritated" and "deflated" after the indictment.

The former president's team also started scrambling to sort out how to get him to New York for an arraignment next week, the adviser said. Trump is due in court on April 4.

This insight into Trump's mood at Mar-a-Lago, post-indictment, echoes reporting from The New York Times and Politico.

The New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman reported on Thursday that Trump and his team were blindsided by the indictment. They assumed that reports of a weekslong break in the grand jury's deliberations meant the indictment would not be announced until the end of April, per The Times.

They were wrong. Trump was indicted on Thursday by a grand jury in New York, in connection with an investigation into hush-money payments made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The Manhattan district attorney's office initially requested for Trump to be arraigned on Friday, but his lawyers said the Secret Service needs more time to figure out his escort, per Politico.

Other indicators also show Trump was unprepared to be indicted on Thursday. Less than 24 hours before his indictment, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had gained "SUCH RESPECT" for the grand jury.

The post aged poorly. In a Truth Social post after his indictment, Trump said he had been indicted by "Thugs and Radical Left Monsters."

Separately, The Times reported earlier in March that Trump has been living it up at Mar-a-Lago, cruising around his Florida residence in his golf cart and DJ-ing at a party on the property.

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.