South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is scheduled to testify before a grand jury in Georgia investigating former President Donald Trump’s conduct after losing the 2020 election.
Graham had asked a federal judge to quash a subpoena, arguing he was performing “legislative acts” when he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger twice after the election. Attorneys for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in court documents that Graham was actually asking to “explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome” for Trump.
U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in her order Monday that Graham’s position as a senator does not protect him from the special grand jury in Fulton County.
“People on the calls have publicly suggested that Senator Graham was not only engaging in legislative fact-finding, but that he was suggesting or implying that Georgia election officials change their processes or otherwise might alter the state results,” May wrote.
May ordered Graham to appear as a witness before the special grand jury on August 23.
“[T]The court finds that the district attorney has shown extraordinary circumstances and a special need for Senator Graham’s testimony,” the judge wrote.
May’s order includes 11 pages devoted to Graham’s argument that the Constitution’s speech or debate clause protects senators from being compelled to testify. He wrote that “the Supreme Court has expressly rejected a broad interpretation of the speech or debate clause that would include conduct that is merely “related” to the legislative process.”
“The Supreme Court has recognized that there are many activities in which a member of Congress might engage that arguably fall outside the scope of protected legislative activity because they are, in fact, ‘political rather than legislative in nature,'” he said. write May
Graham’s office said in a statement Monday that it will appeal the ruling.
“Senator Graham was doing his due diligence before the Vote Count Act certification vote, where he voted to certify the election,” Graham’s office said. “While the district court recognized that speech or debate may protect some of Senator Graham’s activities, it nevertheless ignored the constitutional text and binding Supreme Court precedent.”
The Fulton County district attorney declined to comment on the sentencing.
Graham’s attorneys argued in their motion to quash the subpoena that he “was engaged in legislative fact-finding, both to assist him in crafting election-related legislation, including in his role as then chairman of the Judiciary Committee, as to help inform his vote in favor of certifying the election.”
President Joe Biden won Georgia by just under 12,000 votes, or a margin of 0.5%. Graham has acknowledged the phone calls in the past and has denied any allegations of wrongdoing. saying “face the nation” in January that he “asked about how the system worked when it came to voting by mail, voting.”
Graham is among a slew of Trump allies subpoenaed since May by a Fulton County special grand jury, which has also heard from Georgia state officials who rejected the former president’s attempts to overturn the elections Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump’s personal attorney after the election, is scheduled to appear before a special grand jury on Wednesday.
Giuliani had asked the judge overseeing the special grand jury to postpone his arraignment because he underwent heart stent surgery earlier this summer and cited a New York City doctor who said Giuliani was not authorized to travel by plane The judge, Robert McBurney, denied the request and suggested that Giuliani go to Atlanta for his testimony.”by train, bus or Uberwhatever it is.”
The sentences that appear to bind Graham and Giuliani come as Trump comes under increasing scrutiny from a series of high-profile investigations. On Friday, a New York City judge blocked an effort to dismiss him charges of criminal tax fraud against Trump’s company and its former chief financial officer. two days before Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment hundreds of times while attending a court-ordered deposition in a far-reaching civil fraud investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The statement came two days later The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence for top secret documents allegedly improperly removed from the White House. Federal agents in the case are investigating Trump for possible violation of three criminal statutes, including the Espionage Act.
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