Former US president Donald Trump has been charged by the US Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The indictment focuses on schemes by Mr Trump and his allies to subvert the transfer of power and keep him in office despite his loss to Joe Biden.

It is the third criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.

The criminal case comes as Mr Trump leads the field of Republicans seeking their party’s 2024 presidential nomination. It centres on the turbulent two months between Mr Trump’s November 2020 election loss and the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

Mr Trump denies doing anything wrong.

Shortly before the indictment was unsealed, Mr Trump accused Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s team of trying to interfere with the election with what he called “yet another Fake Indictment”.

“Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long?” he asked on his Truth Social site. “Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”