Key Points
- Trump is being investigated for allegations he sought to overturn President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
- He is facing criminal charges in two other cases.
- Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to public opinion polls.
Former US President 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 election defeat - as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.
Trump already faces criminal charges in two other cases as he campaigns to regain the presidency next year.
He is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to public opinion polls, despite his legal woes.
The charges stem from Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into allegations Trump sought to reverse his loss to Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Minutes before the was handed down, Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform that he had heard to expect an indictment.
"I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President," he wrote.
Who is Jack Smith and why is Trump being investigated?
Smith has been investigating allegations that Trump and his allies sought to overturn Democratic rival Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
Officials have testified that Trump pressured them based on false claims of widespread voting fraud.
His supporters attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.
Trump on 18 July said he had received a letter from Smith telling him that he was a target of the 6 January grand jury investigation in Washington.
Trump already had become the first former US president to face criminal charges. He has sought to portray the prosecutions as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
These represent a second round of federal charges by Smith, who was appointed a special counsel in November by US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Before being appointed by Garland to take over the two Trump-related investigations, Smith had served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, tasked with
prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo, oversaw the Justice Department's public integrity section and worked as a federal and state prosecutor in New York.
Has Trump been indicted before?
Trump pleaded not guilty after a federal grand jury in Miami convened by the special counsel charged him in June in a 37-count indictment over his unlawful retention of classified government documents after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing justice.
Prosecutors accused him of risking some of the most sensitive US national security secrets.
Last Thursday, prosecutors added three more criminal counts against Trump, bringing the total to 40, accusing him of ordering employees to delete security videos as he was under investigation for retaining the documents.
The first charges brought against Trump emerged in March when a grand jury convened by Manhattan's district attorney indicted him.
Trump in April pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts accusing him of falsifying business records concerning a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with him.
Trump has denied the encounter.
What happened in Trump's documents case?
In the documents case, prosecutors accused Trump of mishandling sensitive classified documents about everything from the U.S. nuclear program to potential domestic vulnerabilities in the event of an attack.
When the Justice Department tried to get Trump to return the documents, the indictment alleges, he asked his attorneys if they could lie to the government about the existence of the records.
He was accused of conspiring with his aide Walt Nauta, who is also charged, to move boxes containing documents around inside his home at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to prevent them from being found. Nauta also has pleaded not guilty.
A second employee, a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago, Carlos De Oliveira, was charged on Thursday with conspiracy to obstruct justice, accused of helping Trump to hide documents.
What happened on 6 January?
Members of right-wing militia groups and other supporters of Trump staged the 6 January 2021 assault on the US Capitol after a tweet from the former president seen as a "call to arms".
Trump has characterised the probe, as well as the other cases against him, as part of a politically motivated witch hunt.
Smith, who was appointed as special counsel in November by US Attorney Merrick Garland, previously charged Trump with unlawfully retaining classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021 and obstructing justice.
How big are Trump's legal woes?
A jury in federal court in Manhattan decided in May in a civil lawsuit that Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing former Elle magazine columnist E Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar.
His real estate company was convicted in 2022 in Manhattan of tax fraud charges, though he personally was not charged in that case.
One of Trump's main fundraising groups, the Save America Group, has reported spending more than $US21 million ($A31 million) on legal expenses so far this year.
The sum reported was much less than major media had expected.
Several large US media organisations, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, had reported over the weekend, citing anonymous sources, that Save America's filing would show as much as $US40 million in spending on legal expenses.
In a filing to the Federal Election Commission that it spent about $US30 million between January and June, with most of that going to legal expenses.
