<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Former US President Donald Trump has been criminally charged over his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He is accused of four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US, tampering with a witness and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The indictment caps an inquiry into events surrounding the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Trump, 77, who is running for president again, denies wrongdoing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He is already charged in two other cases: with mishandling classified files, and falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The election investigation has focused on Mr Trump's actions in the two-month period between his loss and the riot in Washington DC, where his supporters stormed Congress as lawmakers certified Democratic President Joe Biden's victory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The man leading the inquiry, US justice department-appointed special counsel Jack Smith, said on Tuesday evening: "The attack on our nation's capital on January 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As described in the indictment it was fuelled by lies."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Smith wrapped up his brief statement by pledging to seek "a speedy trial", while emphasising that the former president "must be assumed innocent until proven guilty".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Trump is due to appear in court on Thursday in Washington DC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 45-page indictment lists six unnamed co-conspirators: four lawyers, a justice department official and a political consultant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The court document accuses Mr Trump of a "conspiracy to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function through dishonesty, fraud and deceit".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rioters clash with police at the front doors of the Capitol on 6 January 2021</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Addressing Mr Trump's allegations of voter fraud in 2020, prosecutors say: "These claims were false and the defendant knew that they were false."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They also say Mr Trump tried and failed to convince Vice-President Mike Pence to attempt to block Mr Biden's certification as president on January 6.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The indictment also lists the numerous US officials and senior Trump campaign workers who, it says, informed the outgoing president that he had lost and that there was no evidence of voter fraud.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Trump, who now faces 78 criminal counts overall in three different cases, is currently the frontrunner in the Republican party's contest to pick its next presidential candidate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whoever wins will challenge the Democratic nominee, expected to be President Biden, in November 2024.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Trump campaign said in a statement that Tuesday's indictment amounted to election interference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes," said the campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It added: "These un-American witch hunts will fail."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dozens of top Trump administration officials and advisers were interviewed as part of the investigation, including former Vice-President Pence and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>