The special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results has issued four charges against the US former president.

According to the BBC, the 45-page indictment alleges Mr Trump orchestrated a broad conspiracy designed to keep him in power after he was defeated by President Joe Biden.

It also accused him of knowingly spreading “pervasive and destablising lies” about election fraud that threatened the presidential election and therefore American democracy.

Mr Trump described the charges – the third separate criminal indictment he is facing – as part of “un-American witch hunts” against him.

The four charges are conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Some legal experts say it will be a challenge to prove that Mr Trump’s actions amount to crimes, and that a potential defence could be that what he said and did was protected by the US Constitutional First Amendment right to free speech.