An official proceeding. Obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the rights of citizens. The former president is due to appear before a federal court on thursday In Washington, dc, as Our Washington correspondent sean dilley explains. Chanting we love trump hes the first president to be charged with a federal crime. But if previous cases are anything to go by, Donald Trumps third indictment is only likely to boost his popularity with Republican Voters. The charges he faces, though, are serious. The 45 Page Indictment accuses the former president of knowingly spreading false claims about Election Fraud to trick and persuade states into helping him overturn the Election Results. The police are now running back into the capitol building. Hes not been charged with inciting the violent scenes of january 6th, but prosecutors have drawn a link. The attack on our Nations Capital onjanuary 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of american democracy. Its described in the indictment. It was fuelled by lies. Lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing a Bedrock Function of the us government, the nations process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the president ial election. Donald trump responded by posting a Campaign Statement on his social media network, truth social, likening his prosecution to lawless persecution in nazi germany. Shortly after charges were announced, he sent a campaign email, vowing to continue his campaign for the white house. His son, donald trumer, has questioned the motives and timing. Have we noticed the pattern of whats happening . Have we seen what theyre doing on a daily basis . I mean, my fathers right. Why did they wait two and a half years . You know why . Because hes leading in the polls because theyre afraid of him becoming president and dismantling the uniparty, dismantling the deep state. Thursdays hearing here In Washington, dc, is all about the crimes mr trump is accused of committing in the two months following the 2020 election. Hes already been charged in two other unrelated cases. Hes due to face trial in new york next march over crimes hes alleged to have committed in relation to payments to a former adult film star. In may, hes set to stand trial in florida over claims he unlawfully held onto military and other classified documents. For now, its all a question of time. In other cases, mr trump has tried to delay until after next years elections, but prosecutors in this case say they want the trial to go ahead as soon as possible. Sean dilley, bbc news In Washington. Live now to our North America correspondent nomia iqbal, whos outside the federal courthouse In Washington dc, where donald trump is due to appear on thursday. In terms of the reverberations after this 45 Page Indictment, just take us through the reaction there has beenin us through the reaction there has been in the last few hours. The reaction we have seen from donald trump is to dismiss it, he has called it ridiculous, said it is a pile on and the Republican Party have got behind him largely. As sean said in his report, its boosted his standing among Republican Voters who do believe in his often repeated narrative that he has with his last indictments, that this is all a political witchhunt designed to stop him getting into the white house. As you can imagine, the media is gathered here and it will be a bigger gathering tomorrow when the arraignment happens. Just to let you know, when we arrived here, a man iogged know, when we arrived here, a Man Jogged Past and came up to us and said, whats going on . We said, donald trump has been indicted for the third time and sort of explains what was going on. He went, oh, and carried onjogging. Im not saying its reflective of the entire American Population but there is probably a sense of fatigue this is happening. It is important to remember not to get to number about the cases piling up against donald trump. This Criminal Indictment is probably the most single most important indictment handed down in american history, especially for a former president , accused of trying to overturn democracy, trying to subvert the Election Result in 2020. The Department Ofjustice has accused him of knowingly doing this. But they have a bit of a task, they have to prove intent, they have to prove donald trump knew what he was doing because of course he can argue that he believes that he had won the election. That he genuinely believed it had been stolen from him. But he is due to a appear in the court that he has been given the option to adhere virtually, wasnt an option given to the last two times but as of yet we dont know for sure exactly if he will take on that option or if he will appear in person to answer these charges laid out to him. ,. , person to answer these charges laid out to him out to him. Nomia iqbal, thank you for the latest. Live now tojulie norman, the co director of the Centre On Us Politics at ucl who is In Washington. Welcome to the programme. The charges could not be more serious in terms of nature. Assess the moment we have reached there in the us. We hear a lot these days about threats to democracy but this is really the real thing. You are talking about allegations that a sitting president sought to overturn Election Results and for the first time in us history, block the peaceful transfer of power. So that is laid out very clearly in the indictment, which i think it is important to point out, focuses less on the actions injanuary the 6th and more in the two months leading up and more in the two months leading up to that likewise, its not so much about what trump said but what he did, specific actions he took at state, federal and local elections to overturn the election right up through january to overturn the election right up throuthanuary six to overturn the election right up through january six and that to overturn the election right up throuthanuary six and that is what the indictment is focusing on. It is a story which is of course making headlines and rippling right across the world in terms of the way the rest of the world views us democracy. But in terms of moving the needle there among Republican Voters, your assessment on that . As we heard from your correspondents, trump has a very strong grip on the Republican Party right now and they are talking about a voter base that over 70 still believe trumps allegations that the election was stolen from him. So many of those supporters are rallying behind him right now. They are very much buying into his claiming this as a witch hunt, persecution, and its almost become the rallying cry for his current campaign, their sense of persecution from the justice campaign, their sense of persecution from thejustice department. I think we will see this court of Public Opinion playing out along the legal case, where i think it will be more of an Uphill Battle For Trump to make a defence but he will obviously be doing all he can and he has been very savvy in the past about evading culpability. Very savvy in the past about evading culabili. ,,. , very savvy in the past about evading culabili. , very savvy in the past about evading culabili. , culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said he culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said he wanted culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said he wanted a culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said he wanted a speedy| culpability. Special Counseljack Smith said he wanted a speedy trial. How is this going to work, do you think . Because potentially we are going to have four different trials going to have four different trials going on involving donald trump, all before that Nomination Process and all before the general election, or during all of that process. Your thoughts on the timeline and how it possibly can work. It is exactly right, it will be very complicated. There is nothing justice once more then have this be a speedy trial and be able to have this move quickly. But when you are talking about a case of this gravity, there is going to be a long process ahead, months, maybe even more. It is also complicated by the fact that two other court dates are already on the calendar and you cannot have Overlapping Court dates. So they are going to have to work around that and i guess it will be sometime next spring. We are going into a spring that will be characterised by primary z then the general election after that, so all of these will be taking place at the same time. Trump will want to persist as much as possible so expect a lot of back and forth about these dates are being set. fix, expect a lot of back and forth about these dates are being set. These dates are being set. A final auestion these dates are being set. A final question on these dates are being set. A final question on political these dates are being set. A final question on political strategy. These dates are being set. A final| question on political strategy. For republicans, i know it is a minority, but those that dont want trump and the democrats, what do you think the best strategy is, because largely, the democrats have let the judicial process play out without too much of a pile on, is that sensible course or does it leave a vacuum that the trump narrative fills . It is a good question and again i would say, i think the indictment was smart about where they chose to indict. They did not pursue all the charges that the january the 6th Committee had suggested. The democrats, i think it will be being as transparent and open about this process as possible and for allowing justice to do its work. I think the sad thing about all this is the country is are already quite divided. Ithink country is are already quite divided. I think democrats are just prepared that yes, this will run the country but not holding Tour Accountable would likely have done the same thing. We accountable would likely have done the same thing. Accountable would likely have done the same thing. We have to leave it there, the same thing. We have to leave it there. Julie the same thing. We have to leave it there, julie norman. The same thing. We have to leave it there, julie norman. But the same thing. We have to leave it there, julie norman. But thank the same thing. We have to leave it there, julie norman. But thank you | there, julie norman. But thank you for being on the programme and giving us that analysis. Thank you for your time of plenty more on that story today. Lets turn to another important story, niger. Where in the past hour, nigeria has cut off electricity to the country, following last weeks coup. It comes as a delegation from the west Africa Regional bloc, ecowas, arrive in in niger as mediation continues. Mediation continues. Some countries in the region have come to the defence of the new leadership, including burkina faso, mali, and guinea declaring that any Military Invention in the country would be considered a declaration of war. Over the past 2a hours, European Nations have begun Evacuating Hundreds of citizens from the country. The first of three french planes arrived back in paris with more than 250 people on board. Italy has also flown out dozens of its own nationals as well as other europeans and american citizens. Live to nairobi and our africa correspondent, catherine byaruhanga, whos following the developments for us. Lets start with the cutting off of electricity, tell us more about that. Yes, we started to get information from residents in various parts of niger saying they were experiencing power blackouts. This is quite rare for people there at the moment. They were talking about having powerful for maybe an hour and then there would be a blackout for four hours and then eventually, the countrys Electricity Company said they believe that this is as a result of sanctions from neighbouring nigeria stop so what nigeria has done is we understand, according to the authorities in niger, is because of sanctions following the coup, they are cutting off Power Supplies to its neighbour in niger. But this is obviously part of what were seeing is a multipronged effort by neighbouring countries, trying to get to grips with situation theyre in there following the coup. They are sending Mediation Teams and also threatening for the now enforcing sanctions. In threatening for the now enforcing sanctions. ,. ,. , sanctions. In terms of that delegation. Sanctions. In terms of that delegation, is sanctions. In terms of that delegation, is there sanctions. In terms of that delegation, is there any i sanctions. In terms of that i delegation, is there any word seeping out about whether any progress is being made . It is stilljust a short while since they arrived. Remember, ecowas has been trying to talk to the military leaders over the past week. They have been trying to talk to them about handing power back to the former president. We understand that this is quite a senior delegation. So on the team is a former Military Ruler of niger, and also a key religious leader in the region, the sultan. So you have a military man who maybe can speak to the new leaders of the coup, a soldier to soldier, and key religious leader there to reinforce the fact that nigers neighbours are concerned about these developments. They are concerned about the possible destabilisation of the region and they are calling for them to return to a democracy and to reinstate the civilian leader. Civilian leader. Briefly, what is the latest civilian leader. Briefly, what is the latest in civilian leader. Briefly, what is the latest in terms civilian leader. Briefly, what is the latest in terms of civilian leader. Briefly, what is the latest in terms of further l the latest in terms of further evacuations, numbers . Exactly. So what we have seen over the course of the day is that there were more than 260 people who were flown from niger to france on a French Military aircraft. So it was notjust french nationals on board that aircraft, you also had other europeans, portuguese. Then there was an italian flight that landed in rome and then you had most italians on that but also americans, a British National and also some africans that were on board that flight. Spain is also expected to carry out its own flight. The uk, for example, hasnt announced an evacuation yet but is calling on its citizens who want to leave niger to register with authorities. The us has also said right now it doesnt see the need to carry out a mass evacuation, similar to what European Countries are doing. Countries are doing. Thanks very much for the countries are doing. Thanks very much for the latest. Countries are doing. Thanks very much for the latest. It countries are doing. Thanks very much for the latest. It is countries are doing. Thanks very much for the latest. It is a countries are doing. Thanks very much for the latest. It is a fluid l much for the latest. It is a Fluid Situation so we will return through the course of today � s programme. Around the world and across the uk. This is bbc news. Lets look at some other main stories in the uk this hour. Cold calling to offer Financial Services or products could be banned under new government plans. The home office says fake scams cost the economy £750 million in the last year. The government will also outlaw so called � sim farms which are used by criminals to send thousands of spam texts at once. The number of people missing payments on essential Household Bills like energy, phone and water is as high as it was over the winter, thats according to Consumer Group which. They estimate that around 2. 4 million households missed at least one bill payment in the month to mid july. Which also said 770,000 failed to make mortgage or rent payments. A court has ruled an american fugitive who fled to scotland after attempting to fake his own death to avoid prosecution can be extradited to the united states. Nicholas rossi is accused of rape in the state of utah. Youre live with bbc news. Thousands of Women In Africa will die in pregnancy and childbirth as a result of cuts to the uks overseas aid budget. Thats the warning from an internal Foreign Office report, which has been made public by mps. The government says, its budget for low Income Countries has been cut in the short term to hit a savings target, but will then nearly double. Live now to sarah champion, the chair of the International Development committee and the la