Former US President Donald Trump is travelling to Washington DC to appear in criminal court for the third time in four months.

He left his New Jersey residence accompanied by security for the short plane journey to DC.

He will be fingerprinted before appearing in court on criminal charges relating to alleged efforts to obstruct and overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Trump, 77, is expected to indicate a non-guilty plea.

The new allegations laid out early this week in an indictment, or charge sheet, included a count of “conspiracy to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function through dishonesty, fraud and deceit”.

Thursday’s arraignment is scheduled for 16:00 local time (21:00 BST). Mr Trump will appear before Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya, while another judge, Tanya Chutkan, will handle the criminal trial.

The Republican politician has already been charged in two other cases: with mishandling classified files and falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.

Earlier, Bill Barr, appointed by Mr Trump as attorney general, the most senior US lawyer, said that the ex-president “knew well he lost the election”.

Trump lawyer John Lauro has called the latest indictment an attack on free speech and said: “There’s nothing more protected under the First Amendment [the right to free speech] than political speech.”

But Mr Barr, who quit the top job in the US legal system shortly after Joe Biden won that election in November 2020, said free speech is not a valid defence.

“They are not attacking his First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants, he can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better,” Mr Barr told CNN.