Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ to stay in office after losing 2020 election, federal prosecutors say

Though a months-long congressional investigation and the indictment itself have chronicled in stark detail Trump's efforts to undo the election, the new filing cites previously unknown accounts offered by Trump's closest aides to paint a portrait of an "increasingly desperate" president who while losing his grip on the White House "used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process".

"So what?" the filing quotes Trump as telling an aide after being alerted that his vice-president, Mike Pence, was in potential danger after a crowd of violent supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"The details don't matter," Trump said, when told by an advisor that a lawyer who was mounting his legal challenges wouldn't be able to prove the false allegations in court, the filing states.