Trump charged in investigation over his efforts to overturn 2020 election loss

Donald Trump on Tuesday was hit with criminal charges for a third time in four months — this time arising from efforts to overturn his 2020 U.S. election defeat — as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.

Donald Trump on Tuesday was hit with criminal charges for a third time in four months — this time arising from efforts to overturn his 2020 U.S. election defeat — as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.

The four-count indictment alleges Trump conspired to defraud the U.S. by preventing Congress from certifying U.S. President Joe Biden's victory, and to deprive voters of their right to a fair election.

Trump was ordered to make an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday.

The charges stem from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into allegations that Trump — the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — sought to reverse his loss to Democratic rival Joe Biden.

Prosecutors wrote that Trump knew his claims that the election was fraudulent were false, but repeated them anyway to "create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger and erode public faith in the administration of the election."

Trump and others organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven states, all of which he lost, to be certified as official by Congress on Jan. 6, the indictment said.

The indictment lays out numerous examples of Trump's election falsehoods and notes that close advisers, including senior intelligence officials, told him repeatedly that the results were legitimate.

"These claims were false, and the defendant knew that they were false," prosecutors wrote.