Donald Trump says he expects to be indicted over 2020 election probe

Former US president Donald Trump has said he expects to be indicted over an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Trump said on social media he had been told to report to a grand jury, which he said “almost always means an Arrest and Indictment".

The 77-year-old, who owns two golf courses in Scotland, earlier this year became the first US president to be criminally indicted over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his presidency. This would be the second indictment.

Mr Trump posted on Truth Social: “Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.”

Former US President Donald Trump sad he expected to be indicted in relation to the 2020 election probe

It is believed Mr Trump received the target letter while with his family on Sunday night.

Such a letter can precede an indictment and is used to advise individuals that prosecutors have evidence linking them to a crime. Mr Trump received one ahead of being charged last month in a separate investigation into the mishandling of classified documents.

A spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, whose office is leading the investigation, declined to comment.

Mr Smith's team has cast a broad net in its investigation into attempts by Mr Trump and his allies to block the legitimate transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden in the days leading up to the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, when Trump loyalists stormed the building in a bid to disrupt the certification of electoral votes in Congress.

More than 1,000 people accused of participating in the riot have been charged.

Mr Smith's probe has centred on a broad range of schemes from Mr Trump and allies to keep him in power, including the use of slates of so-called fake electors in battleground states won by Mr Biden and disputed by Mr Trump.

Mr Trump, who is the dominant early frontrunner for the Republican nomination, is scheduled to travel to Iowa on Tuesday, where he is taping a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Prosecutors in Georgia are conducting a separate investigation into efforts by Mr Trump to reverse his election loss in that state, with the top prosecutor in Fulton County signalling she expects to announce charging decisions next month.

Mr Trump was indicted last month on 37 felony counts accusing him of illegally retaining hundreds of classified documents at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago. He has pleaded not guilty.

Separately, Mr Trump has already been found guilty of sexually abusing author E Jean Carroll in a changing room in a department store, in a civil case brought against him in New York last month.

Meanwhile, the former US president is awaiting trial over a previous indictment relating to a $130,000 [£106,000] “hush money” payment he allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Ms Daniels, who claims she was invited to Mr Trump’s hotel room after a celebrity golf tournament in 2006, says she then slept with Mr Trump, who later became president.

Mr Trump, who is now facing accusations of concealing the payment from the Manhattan district attorney Alvin L Bragg, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to the Daniels case, which is heading to trial early next year.