Image source, Reuters

The former president has used lots of capital letters and fierce language in his social media posts over the past 24 hours.

"NOTHING LIKE THIS HAS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE. OUR COUNTRY CAN NEVER LET THIS STAND!" he wrote on his Truth Social media platform.

He accused what he called “Biden-Smith goon squads” of intentionally running investigations slowly as a “witch hunt” to interfere with his 2024 presidential campaign.

"Why didn't they indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign," he wrote.

Trump also reiterated his rhetoric of challenging what he believes was a “rigged and stolen election” in 2020.

He is the first former president in US history to face criminal charges.

Trump has said nothing will stop his campaigning for the 2024 presidency, with a message on his website saying he will "NEVER SURRENDER" despite facing "multiple LIFETIMES in prison as an innocent man".

Image source, Reuters

Security around the Fulton County courthouse has been tightened over fears that the charges levied against Trump could attract violent protesters.

Steel crowd-control barricades and water-filled security barriers had already been installed around the court complex in Atlanta, Georgia last week - alongside dozens of police officers deployed to patrol the area.

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis also asked the FBI to help with security and urged many of her staff to work remotely.

Some of the prosecutor's staff have been given bulletproof vests for protection, according to the New York Times, external.

Here's a recap of the latest in the series of indictments faced by former President Donald Trump:

• Late on Monday, the US state of Georgia charged Trump and 18 of his allies with conspiring to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election
• The 98-page indictment lists 41 charges - 13 of which are against Donald Trump
• He has denied all of the charges, which include racketeering and election meddling

• The investigation was launched after a leaked recording of a phone call in which Trump asked Georgia's top election official to "find 11,780 votes"
• This is Trump's fourth criminal indictment: he faces 78 charges from three other cases - for allegations over election interference, hush money paid to a porn star, and hoarding classified documents
• Trump has described the charges as a politically motivated "witch hunt", while his lawyers have described the situation as "shocking and absurd"
• One Democrat says the justice system is doing "what it is supposed to be doing"

Image source, Reuters

Sam Cabral
BBC News

Racketeering is a type of organised crime where a person profits through dishonest or illegal activities.

The first count in the Georgia indictment charges Donald Trump and 18 others with racketeering, alleging the former president is the ringleader of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Organised criminal activity in the US is routinely prosecuted under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act charges, including to convict mafia bosses like John Gotti and Vincent Gigante.

Rico laws help prosecutors connect the dots between underlings who broke laws and those who gave them their marching orders. But prosecutors need to show that a criminal "enterprise" exists.

More than 30 US states have implemented their own versions of Rico laws and Georgia's adaptation is broader in scope than most - with 65 possible qualifying crimes to choose from, rather than 35 in the federal version.

Penalties under Georgia's act are steep - prison terms between five and 20 years, or fines of up to $250,000 (£197,000) - which can help persuade subordinates to cut deals with the prosecution in exchange for lesser sentences.

You can read more about Rico charges here.

Democratic Congressman Adam Smith, one of Trump's political opponents, says that the justice system is doing "what it is supposed to be doing".

Speaking to the BBC about the indictment, he says: "There is a mountain of evidence that President Trump and people close to him tried to overturn the election. They need a full public hearing, the former president should be tried and we should look and see where the evidence goes."

Smith thinks that Trump's indictment will "fire up" the Republican Party to support Trump in his bid for presidency.

"I hope the Republican Party get past the cult of Donald Trump and get back to being a reasonable conservative party, but right now they are not that."

Sarah Smith
North America editor

There is deep irony around Donald Trump's claims that it amounts to election interference, when he is charged with interfering in the results of the last election.

But he may have a point.

You don’t have to believe that all these charges are part of a politically motivated plot to keep him out of the White House to see that the timing could cause significant problems.

Many Republicans, and not just of the die-hard MAGA variety, do point out that all these investigations have been underway for well over two years.

Why, they ask, are charges being brought now, just over a year before the next election?

Trump is already due in court in New York in March next year, and faces a trial in Florida in May. Very soon the judge overseeing the election fraud case in DC will schedule that trial, and now this case in Georgia needs to be put into the calendar.

Trying to get through all the cases before polling day could see a presidential candidate barely able to campaign because he is spending so much time in court.

Many voters will want to know if Trump has been found guilty of any of the charges before they have to decide whether or not to vote for him.

Whenever the court proceedings take place, they are likely to dominate the election, making it a campaign unlike any other.

Image source, Reuters

Republican Senator Ted Cruz has said the timing of the charges is “disgraceful” and “nakedly political”.

Speaking to Fox News, he accused the Democrats of “weaponising the justice system”.

“They want a trial to attack Donald Trump in September or October next year, right before the election,” he said.

Prosecutor Fani Willis, a Democrat, wrote in a letter to the Georgia Governor that the matter would be investigated and prosecuted in a manner “free from conflict of interest or political considerations.”

Charges against a defendant in Georgia are usually formally read out in court.

Trump will also be asked to enter a plea, however his attorney could ask the court to waive this, so he could enter a plea of not guilty without actually appearing.

Bail also will be figured out.

Trump will probably be released in exchange for a promise to return and face the charges at trial.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said Trump will also have his mugshot taken upon being taken into custody.

Image source, Reuters

In short - yes.

Under US law, nothing prevents a person from running for office if they are facing criminal charges.

The most recent example was George W Bush, who had a drink-driving conviction - a minor offence for which he received a fine and had his driving licence suspended - but went on to serve two terms in the White House.

The rules for who can run for president are set by the US Constitution, and they are pretty simple - a candidate must be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen and must have lived in the US for at least 14 years.

But the weight of all these indictments could begin to have an effect on Trump's standing.

At least two people have previously run for president with criminal convictions.

In 1920, socialist candidate Eugene Debs ran, despite having been convicted under the Espionage Act in connection with a 1918 anti-war speech.

Conspiracist Lyndon LaRouche also ran on multiple occasions after being convicted of fraud in 1988.

Both lost their elections.

Trump has made clear that no verdict or sentence will halt his campaign, and he will carry on running for president from behind bars if he has to.

Image source, Reuters

Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani is a prominent name in the indictment document.

He is the second name listed, right after Donald Trump.

And just like Trump, Giuliani has been charged with 13 criminal counts (although the actual charges differ between the two accused co-conspirators).

Giuliani - who is also a former New York City mayor - is included in the racketeering charge, as well as charges for making false statements, and making false testimony before Georgia lawmakers about election fraud that did not take place.

Trump's former lawyer has denied any wrongdoing, and told NBC on Monday that he wasn't worried and that he "didn't do anything wrong".

This is not Donald Trump's first rodeo of being charged with criminal offences, as the former president faces three other court cases over a variety of allegations:

2020 election investigation

Trump has been criminally charged in a separate federal investigation into efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

They stem from the former president's actions in the wake of the 2020 election, including around the 6 January Capitol riot, which occurred while Congress was meeting to certify President Joe Biden's victory.

Classified documents case

He is also facing 40 criminal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified material after he left the White House.

Thousands of documents were seized in an FBI search at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago last year, including about 100 that were marked as classified.

The charges are related to both his handling of the documents and his alleged efforts to obstruct the FBI's attempts to retrieve them

New York hush money case

Trump's first criminal indictment was lodged in March, when he was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

The allegations relate to a hush-money payment made before the 2016 election to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an adulterous affair with Mr Trump.

While such a payment is not illegal, spending money to help a presidential campaign but not disclosing it violates federal campaign finance law.

In his three previous indictments, television cameras were banned due to rules in federal courts, though photojournalists were briefly allowed in the Manhattan court.

This one, however, could potentially be broadcast on television due to local court rules.

The presiding judge has the final say, but the request is often granted, NBC News reports., external

Additionally, some legal watchers suspect Trump may have a mugshot taken here, unlike in his other arraignments.

The Fulton County sheriff has pledged the court would "follow our normal practices" if he is indicted.

We don't yet know exactly when Trump will make his appearance, but the head prosecutor said he had until 25 August - next Friday - to surrender.

As we've been reporting, this latest raft of charges relate to Donald Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the US presidential election result in Georgia in January 2020.

The investigation was launched after a recording was leaked in which the former president told the key southern state's top election official to "find" enough votes in his favour.

You can listen to the full audio of the phone call here:

Image source, .

Our colleagues have recorded an emergency Americast episode all about these fresh charges lodged against Donald Trump - for anyone in need of a listen during breakfast or their commute.

Our North America editor Sarah Smith in Atlanta, North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher in Washington DC, and Radio 4’s Justin Webb in London have assembled to talk through the all the key details.

They lay out why this fourth indictment could be the most damaging yet for Trump's hopes of becoming president again next year. They also interview Georgia's Republican Party chairman about the former president's possible defence.

You can listen to the full podcast on BBC Sounds here.

The short answer is that we don't know exactly when.

But he and the other defendants have been given the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than 12:00 local time on 25 August - next Friday.

If you're just waking up to the news, Donald Trump has been charged with criminal offences for the fourth time since the end of March.

This latest indictment relates to his alleged attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in the key state of Georgia. Here's an at-a-glance look at we know so far:

• The former president has been charged alongside 18 other people in a 41-count indictment, under Georgia's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act
• The investigation into the group was launched after a leaked recording of a phone call in which Trump asked Georgia's top election official to "find 11,780 votes"
• Other key players charged alongside him include his former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former justice department official Jeffrey Clark
• Fulton County attorney general Fani Willis, the head prosecutor, says all 19 defendants will be charged together and have been given until 25 August to surrender
• Willis said Trump's alleged accomplices took part in an "illegal effort" to "seize the presidential term of office"
• Trump has labelled the charges a "witch hunt", while his lawyers have described the situation as "shocking and absurd"

Image source, Reuters

We've just had some reaction from another big name charged in this indictment - Rudy Giuliani.

In a statement to the BBC's US partner CBS News, the former New York mayor and former Trump attorney says the charges are an "affront to American democracy".

He goes on to say the indictment "does permanent, irrevocable harm" to the justice system, describing it as "just the next chapter in a book of lies" to frame Trump and anyone else "willing to take on the ruling regime".

Prosecutor Fani Willis held a press conference shortly before midnight local time on Tuesday.

All individuals indicted conspired to "accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J Trump to seize the presidential term of office", she said.

In the last several minutes, we've received some reaction from the former president.

Writing on his Truth Social network, Donald Trump condemns a "witch hunt" against him.

He calls attention to a document that reportedly appeared on the Fulton County court's website earlier today, with indictments against Trump before the charges were formally announced.

Trump writes: "What about those indictment documents put out today, long before the grand jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds rigged to me!"

He appears to suggest the charges against him are politically motivated, adding: "Why didn’t they indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign."

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Trump leads a long list of names who are listed as co-defendants in this case.

Other notable co-conspirators listed are former New York mayor (and Trump lawyer) Rudy Giuliani, who was charged with making false statements as well as other charges, for making false testimony before Georgia lawmakers about election fraud that did not take place.

Another big name is John Eastman, a fellow lawyer for Trump and the architect of the former president's legal case trying to keep him in power.

Those arguments got shot down in court after court and most legal experts agree they had no merits.

We’re also seeing Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in this indictment.

Jeffrey Clark, an ex-justice department official who is accused of helping Trump further his bid to stay in power, is also named.