Donald Trump election probe court files criminal charges

A Georgia court investigating former US President Donald Trump's alleged attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss has filed criminal charges, though it is unclear if he has been indicted.

A clerk at the Fulton County court said the grand jury had returned 10 indictments - without specifying any of the charges in the sprawling inquiry.

An indictment against Mr Trump would mark the fourth time he has been criminally charged this year.

He has pleaded not guilty in all cases.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis launched an investigation in February 2021 into allegations of election meddling against Mr Trump and his associates.

Reporters stayed at the court in Atlanta until late on Monday night waiting for the clerk to process a stack of criminal charges, as speculation mounted that the former president himself had been indicted.

Mr Trump, currently the frontrunner in the Republican Party's race to pick its next candidate for the White House, has said the investigation by Ms Willis, a Democrat, was politically motivated.

In a statement, the Trump campaign described the district attorney as a "rabid partisan" who had filed "these bogus indictments" to interfere with the 2024 presidential race and "damage the dominant Trump campaign".

"This latest co-ordinated strike by a biased prosecutor in an overwhelmingly Democrat jurisdiction not only betrays the trust of the American people, but also exposes the true motivation driving their fabricated accusations," said the statement.

There was confusion earlier on Monday when a list of a criminal charges against Mr Trump appeared on a Fulton County website before the grand jury had even voted to return an indictment.

The filing said Mr Trump had been charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit fraud and making false statements.

A spokesperson for Ms Willis said the document was "fictitious" but did not explain how it ended up on the court's website.

Mr Trump and his allies seized on the apparent clerical error to claim the process was rigged.

Mr Trump has already been charged by federal prosecutors in Washington DC with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, a Democrat. That charge sheet devoted significant time to the Trump team's activities in Georgia.

Ms Willis' investigation focuses specifically on Georgia, a key battleground state for the US presidency that Mr Trump narrowly lost.

In January 2021, Mr Trump was recorded on a phone call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" 11,780 votes, the number he would have required to beat Mr Biden in that state.

At least eight "fake electors", who signed a bogus certificate claiming Mr Trump won the election in that state, have reached immunity deals in the case after agreeing to interviews with Fulton County prosecutors.