Trump to face claims of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election

Former President Donald Trump speaks with supporters at the Westside Conservative Breakfast, June 1, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. A federal judge upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump on Wednesday, rejecting the former president’s claim that the award was excessive and that a jury in a civil case vindicated him by failing to conclude that he raped a columnist in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

WASHINGTON (WISH) — Former President Donald Trump will face claims on Thursday that he tried illegally to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump is indicted on four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of a congressional proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

He’ll be at the federal courthouse, which is blocks away from the U.S. Capitol, where his supporters stormed on Jan. 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutors said Trump spread lies claiming there was fraud in the election, and that he had won. They said these claims are false and that Trump knew they were false.

Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, said the Biden administration has criminalized free speech.

“That’s unprecedented. We’ve never seen that in the United States,” Lauro told CNN.

On the other side of the aisle, former Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump knew he lost the election and tried to overturn the results anyway.

“You read through the indictment and his behavior in that indictment. It’s nauseating,” Barr told CNN. “It’s despicable behavior, whether it’s criminal or not. Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying … that is fundamental to our system and to our self government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”

Trump is scheduled to appear in court at 4 p.m. on Thursday.