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Former US President Donald Trump has been charged with allegedly plotting to illegally change the result of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

The charges state that he conspired to commit fraud, tampered with a witness and conspired against the rights of US citizens.

But Donald Trump has said he's done nothing wrong, and is only being charged because his opponents don't want him to run for president again in 2024.

The charges are delivered in what's called an indictment, which is a document that sets out the details of any alleged offences and ensures the person receiving it has notice of them.

This means he'll have to appear in court again to defend himself - it's the third time he's faced criminal charges this year.

These instances make him the first former president in US history to have been indicted, and they come as he's campaigning to once again be the Republican candidate for president at the upcoming 2024 election.

Who is Donald Trump and why is he famous?

Donald Trump is an American politician, businessman and former reality TV star.

He was the president of the United States of America from 2017 to 2021.

He is also famous for being the host of the American version of the TV show, The Apprentice, before he became president.

What happened in 2020?

After serving four years as President of the United States, in 2020 Donald Trump lost an election to Joe Biden, who is the current President.

Trump believed the vote was rigged, that the counting had been interfered with, and that he was the real winner. This was not true.

He was very vocal about this belief, and on January 6 2021, he made a speech outside the White House to a group of his supporters, urging them to protest the results.

Following this speech, lots of people forced their way into the US Capitol building, which is where the United States Congress meet to write laws for the country.

The riots turned violent, with protesters clashing with the police. Five people died during the events and a number of police officers were also injured.

Trump was blamed for not only encouraging the riots, but for not doing anything to stop them when they started.

He was banned from Twitter for 12 hours, and when his account was reinstated, he posted a video publicly condemning the riots, saying those who took part "do not represent our country".

An inquiry was launched after the incident, to investigate what had happened, the events leading up to it, and what (if any) involvement Donald Trump had.

The indictment announced today concerns Trump's actions in the two months between the election and the January 6 riots.

What is Donald Trump being charged with?

Trump faces four charges:

The 45-page indictment lays out alleged schemes Donald Trump and his key supporters came up with after the election to overturn the result.

For example, prosecutors claimed he told his Vice President Mike Pence three times that he had the authority to reject the election results, even though Pence said that wasn't true.

They also said he came up with plans to obstruct and delay the certification of results in some states.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who made the indictment announcement to journalists, said Trump's lies in the weeks leading up to January 6 "fuelled" the riots.

Six co-conspirators were named in the document too, but they weren't charged.

Earlier, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform: "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 favourite president, me, at 5pm.

"Why didn't they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial misconduct!"

What else has Donald Trump been indicted for?

Trump has received criminal charges twice before.

The first time, he was accused of hiding payments made to a woman he's alleged to have had a relationship with while he was married, something Trump denies.

The payments were apparently made so that she would keep quiet about the relationship as he ran for President in 2016.

The trial will take place in New York, and will start in March 2024.

The second set of charges concerned allegedly keeping top secret documents after he lost the presidential election and left the White House.

These classified documents contained very sensitive information, and he did not have permission to keep them.

He pleaded not guilty to these charges, and afterwards said he had "every right" to hold the classified documents.

That trial will begin in May 2024, and will happen in Florida.