Former US President Donald Trump has been charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia, the BBC reports.
A grand jury voted to charge Mr Trump and 18 others with counts that include racketeering.
There are 41 charges, with 13 against Mr Trump. It is the fourth time he has been criminally charged this year.
He has denied all charges. His campaign said the US had become “a Marxist Third World dictatorship.”
The list of alleged co-conspirators includes former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former White House lawyer John Eastman.
Others include a former justice department official, Jeffrey Clark, and Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis – two Trump lawyers who amplified unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
The indictment says the defendants “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
The former president is accused in the 98-page charge sheet of the following felony counts, including:
- Violating Georgia’s racketeering act
- Solicitation of violation of oath by public officer
- Conspiracy to impersonate a public officer
- Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree
- False statements and writings and filing false documents
The indictment refers to the defendants as a “criminal organization”, accusing them of other crimes including influencing witnesses, computer trespass, theft and perjury.
