Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for a third time after being criminally charged Tuesday for his role in overturning the result of his 2020 election defeat to President Joe Biden.
Federal prosecutors charged Trump with four counts related to a plot to overturn the election, stating that the former president was “determined to remain in power.”
“For more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” the indictment said.
“These claims were false, and the Defendant knew they were false.”
Trump is the first current or former US president to face criminal charges, let alone an unprecedented three indictments.
The election interference probe was led by special counsel Jack Smith, who also previously led a separate investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
In that case, Trump was charged with 37 counts related to concealing those documents. Trump pleaded not guilty, and the case is scheduled to go to trial in May.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel