Associated Press
Attorneys representing Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Wednesday he intends to challenge a subpoena compelling him to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies’ actions after the 2020 election.
Graham was one of a handful of Trump confidants and lawyers named Tuesday in petitions filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her investigation into what she alleges was “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Graham attorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin said in a statement Wednesday that the Republican senator “plans to go to court, challenge the subpoena, and expects to prevail,” and they slammed the probe as politically motivated.
“This is all politics. Fulton County is engaged in a fishing expedition and working in concert with the January 6 Committee in Washington,” they wrote, adding that, “As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Graham was well within his rights to discuss with state officials the processes and procedures around administering elections.”
“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,” they went on. They also said they had been informed by Fulton County investigators that Graham “is neither a subject nor target of the investigation.”
A spokesperson for Willis, a Democrat, did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
In the petition submitted Tuesday, Willis wrote that Graham, a longtime Trump ally, made at least two telephone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of his staff in the weeks after the November 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. During those calls, Graham asked about reexamining certain absentee ballots “to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” she wrote.
Willis also filed petitions to compel cooperation from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was one of Trump’s primary lawyers during the failed efforts to overturn the result of the election, as well as lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Cleta Mitchell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Jacki Pick Deason.
Giuliani was recovering Tuesday after undergoing surgery to have two heart stents put in, his son, Andrew Giuliani, said while filling in for him as co-host on radio’s “The Rudy Giuliani Show.”
2 comments
Chas
July 6, 2022 at 1:21 pm
First time I ever Saw Senator Graham he was on the Senate floor giving a speech and CRYING .. Demanding that President Clinton had to go, because it was important to the integrity of the country to not have leaders who lie.. What a real piece of work the Senator has turned out to be,. The word hypocrite does not even come close. Self serving snake is more like it.
PeterH
July 7, 2022 at 1:54 am
Here’s the problem for Lindsey Graham. If he fights the subpoena he appears to be hiding something. Sorry Lindsey …. you will testify ….. this is not an interview with co-workers in the January 6th committee …… your subpoena is with the Georgia Grand Jury. You will testify.
If he responds to the subpoena….. he’s in real trouble. When you appear before a Grand Jury you cannot have a lawyer present AND you cannot plead the Firth Amendment.
In other words you need to tell the truth …. and that’s something that escapes most Republicans. Lying has become second nature for Republicans….. they watched Trump lie 10,000 times and didn’t have the courage to remove him from office.
Unfortunately for today’s Republicans they have abandoned their oath of office and are circling the swamp drain. They’re needlessly prolonging every court appearance …. with only one eventual outcome……. two more years of this painful internationally embarrassing clown show.
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