Graham Moves to Quash Grand Jury Subpoena in Georgia Election Probe
WASHINGTON – Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has asked a federal court to quash a grand jury subpoena that requires him to testify in an investigation in Georgia into former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.
In filings provided to The Well News by Graham’s Charleston, S.C.-based attorneys, Matt Austin and Bart Daniel, the senator’s counsel note their client is “not a target or a subject” of the grand jury’s investigation into “possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the state of Georgia.
The Nelson Mullins attorneys further assert that Graham cannot be compelled to testify by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis because his conversations with state officials were part of his official conduct as a legislator.
Specifically, they contend he’s shielded from being forced to testify because “the Constitution’s speech or debate clause protects him from this legal process; sovereign immunity prohibits enforcement of the state court process on him as a federal officer, and no extraordinary circumstances exist for compelling his testimony.”
In a letter distributed to reporters earlier this month, Austin and Daniel said Graham dismissed Willis’s insistence that Graham testify as “politics.”
“Fulton County is engaged in a fishing expedition and working in concert with the Jan. 6 committee in Washington,” they wrote. “Any information from an interview or deposition with Sen. Graham would immediately be shared with the Jan. 6 committee.
“As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Graham was well within his rights to discuss with state officials the processes and procedures around administering elections,” they continued. “Should it stand, the subpoena issued today would erode the constitutional balance of power and the ability of a member of Congress to do their job.
“The speech and debate clause provides Sen. Graham both an immunity and privilege in this context because the testimony sought relates to matters within the legislative sphere. Sovereign immunity also precludes state court process against Sen. Graham given the acts occurred within his official capacity.
“Moreover, the district attorney cannot establish extraordinary circumstances to require his compelled testimony, interfering with Sen. Graham’s official duties on behalf of the people of South Carolina.”
Graham was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee until February 2021.
He was also a member of former President Trump’s inner circle in the weeks leading up to the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a period when Trump and his supporters were promulgating false claims of systemic fraud in the 2020 election.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said Graham reached out to him by phone after the election and asked questions about the integrity of the state’s elections and his – Raffebsperger’s authority to reject certain absentee ballots.
Graham has repeatedly disputed Raffensperger’s characterization of the call, explaining that he was curious about how the state election officials certified voter signatures.
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