(NewsNation) — The indictment of a former president is an unprecedented event. But how did the news of the indictment affect former President Donald Trump?

The announcement that Trump had been indicted by a grand jury came at around 5:30 Thursday afternoon.

It was a frenetic couple of hours amid an unprecedented occurrence in the history of the United States legal and political systems.

Trump, according to sources, was initially upset and shocked at the decision. But once it came down, he appeared ready to fight the historic legal battle.

A source close to the former president said it was chaos as they tried to figure out how to respond, but around 6:15 p.m. the former president put out a lengthy statement saying he was the victim of “political persecution.”

The former president’s onetime White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, told Chris Cuomo that Trump has been expressing some angst.

“Trump is telling people privately that he is very upset about this indictment. He’s not pretending, oh this is going to lead to a landslide victory for him, or anything like that. He’s upset about it. He does not want to be indicted. He always thinks about his dad. He’s got to be thinking, What would my dad be thinking about this, that he’s about to be arraigned in the city he once loved, New York City,” Scaramucci said.

Trump did make a sort of a public appearance Thursday night when he was seen at his Mar-a-Lago resort, having dinner with his wife among other guests at the private club.

As for the White House, they are staying as far away from this as possible. When NewsNation reached out, the network received an immediate “no comment.”

On Friday, President Biden would not touch the issue at all when he left the White House and briefly faced reporters.

Sources at the White House said they were made aware of the indictment just like everyone else: through press reports. The president was briefed on the matter by his chief of staff, Jeff Zients.