Trump Indicted for Efforts to Overturn Election

This story has been updated with new details. Donald Trump has been charged by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The indictment from a federal grand jury focuses on schemes by Trump and his allies to subvert the transfer of power and keep him in office despite his loss to Joe Biden. It's the third criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House. It centers on the turbulent two months between Trump's November 2020 election loss and the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, the AP reports.

The Washington Post reports that the four-count indictment filed by special counsel Jack Smith accuses the president of three conspiracies, "charging that he conspired to defraud the US, conspired to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspired against people's rights." Trump was also charged with obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, CNN reports. He has been summoned to appear before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC on Thursday.

Smith said the Capitol attack "was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government: the nation's process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election." Trump denies doing anything wrong. Shortly before the indictment was unsealed, Trump accused Smith's team of trying to interfere with the election with what he called "yet another Fake Indictment.""Why didn't they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long?" he asked on his Truth Social site. "Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!" (More Donald Trump stories.)