Former United States President Donald Trump has been criminally indicted for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, with prosecutors accusing the Republican politician of attempting to obstruct “a bedrock function” of democracy in order to cling on to power.

According to international media reports, the 45-page indictment, filed in Washington, DC on Tuesday by Special Counsel Jack Smith, detailed four felony charges against Trump, some of which carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

They include one count of conspiracy to defraud the US, one count of conspiracy against rights, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and one count of obstructing an official proceeding.

The charges – Trump’s third criminal indictment since March – stemmed from Smith’s sprawling investigation into allegations that the former president sought to reverse his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Trump pushed fraud claims he knew to be untrue, pressured state and federal officials – including Vice President Mike Pence – to alter the results and finally incited a violent assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a desperate attempt to undermine the country’s democracy and cling to power.

Trump, who is the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential contest, said the latest charges amount to election interference. He is already scheduled to go on trial in Florida in May 2024 for allegedly mishandling top-secret government documents.

The former president went on to allege that “the lawlessness of these persecutions is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes”.