Donald Trump indicted in Georgia for trying to overturn 2020 loss

Prosecutors charged 18 other people, including Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff

Former President Donald Trump. AP

The grand jury in Georgia investigating Donald Trump issued an indictment accusing the former US president of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

The charges - the fourth criminal case against him - were brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and add to the legal woes facing Mr Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

Prosecutors brought 11 counts against Mr Trump and his associates, including forgery and racketeering, which is used to target members of organized crime groups.

Prosecutors charged 18 other people, including Mark Meadows, Mr Trump's former White House chief of staff, and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.

Mr Trump was previously indicted in early August by a federal grand jury for conspiring to undermine the 2020 vote and prevent the peaceful transfer of power through a series of lies and unlawful actions taken after the general election and leading up to the violent riot by his supporters at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

He has already pleaded not guilty in three criminal cases.

He faces a New York state trial beginning on March 25, 2024, involving a hush money payment to an adult star, and a Florida trial beginning on May 20 in a federal classified documents case.

In both cases Mr Trump pleaded not guilty.

A third indictment, in Washington federal court, accuses him of illegally seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

Mr Trump denies wrongdoing in this case as well, and a trial date has yet to be set.

As indictments mount, Mr Trump often invokes his distinction as the only former president to face criminal charges.

He is campaigning and fundraising around these themes, portraying himself as the victim of Democratic prosecutors out to get him.

Earlier, Fulton County court clerk Che Alexander told reporters it could take her office up to three hours to process the indictments after they were accepted by the judge.

They stem from a January 2, 2021, phone call in which Mr Trump urged Georgia's top election official, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to reverse his narrow loss in the state. Mr Raffensperger declined to do so.

Ms Willis also investigated an alleged scheme by the Trump campaign to subvert the electoral process by submitting false slates of electors, people who make up the Electoral College that elects the president and vice president.

Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and accuses Ms Willis, an elected Democrat, of being politically motivated.