Former President accused of ‘unprecedented assault’ on democracy in 2020 election

Former US President Donald Trump has been criminally charged with trying to overturn the 2020 US election.

It is the most serious legal threat yet to the former president – the third time in four months that he has been indicted – as he continues his attempt to return to the White House in 2024.

In a four-count, 45-page indictment, Mr Trump was charged with conspiring to “defraud the United States” by preventing Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Prosecutors claimed then-President Trump pushed fraud claims he knew to be untrue, pressured state and federal officials to alter the results and incited the riot at the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

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