The Former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump is expected to appear in court on Thursday to answer charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, a case that will cast a dark and volatile cloud over the 2024 White House race for which he remains the presumptive Republican nominee.

Metal barricades were erected around the E. Barret Prettyman federal courthouse in Washington, where the arrest and arraignment of the former president will take place within sight of the US Capitol that was stormed by his supporters on January 6, 2021.

Police gathered outside the court on Thursday, while scores of reporters from the world's media camped overnight to seek a spot inside.

The 77-year-old Trump is expected to enter a plea of not guilty at a hearing at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) before magistrate judge Moxila Upadhyaya.

The accusations that Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators plotted to upend the 2020 election is the former president's third criminal indictment since March, and the most serious of the cases threatening to derail his comeback bid.