Timeline: How former US president Donald Trump was charged with trying to overturn 2020 election

Key events leading up to federal indictment of 77 year-old

7 November 2021: Joe Biden is declared the winner of the 2020 US presidential election after voter data shows that he secured more than 270 electoral college votes. However, the incumbent, Donald Trump does not concede.

19 December: Trump takes to social media to tweet about a “big protest” planned in Washington DC set on 6 January, and urges his supporters to turn out. “Be there, will be wild!,” he writes.

6 January 2022: In scenes that shock the world, a mob of supporters loyal to Trump raid the US Capitol.

13 January: Members of the US House of Representatives vote 232-197 to impeach Trump for inciting the attack on the seat of US democracy.

20 January: Joe Biden is sworn in as president and Trump leaves the White House

13 February: A high-profile impeachment profile sees members of the US Senate vote 57-43 to convict Trump of the incitement charge. The result is short of the two thirds majority required.

27 July: A special committee appointed to investigate the 6 January attacks and the events leading up to convenes for its first public hearing

Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the US Justice Department's criminal invrstigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty

15 November: Trump announces his intention to run again for the presidency in 2024, as his campaign files official federal paperwork.

18 November: US Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee the the US Justice Department's criminal investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election

19 December: The congressional committee investigating the 6 January attacks concludes its investigation and unanimously votes to recommend the US Justice Department charge Trump with conspiracy to defraud the US, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to make a false statement and aiding or inciting an insurrection.

27 April 2023: Former vice president Mike Pence appears at a federal courthouse in Washington to go before the grand jury.

18 July: Trump announces that he has received correspondence from the Justice Department informing him that he is a target in the 2020 election investigation

1 August: The federal indictment of Trump is announced, with the 77 year-old charged with plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.