U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during the third day of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Justice Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 23, 2022.
Kevin Lamarck | Reuters
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina will challenge a grand jury subpoena seeking his testimony as part of an investigation into possible criminal interference in the 2020 Georgia election by former President Donald Trump and his allies, the lawmaker’s lawyers said Wednesday.
Investigators in Fulton County, Georgia, have told them that Graham, a Trump ally, is “neither a subject nor a target of the investigation, but merely a witness,” his lawyers said.
They argued that if Graham’s subpoena were upheld, it would undermine the constitutional balance of power and affect his ability to do his job as a member of Congress.
“It’s all politics. Fulton County participated in a fishing expedition and worked with the January 6th Committee in Washington, D.C.,” Graham’s attorneys, Bart Daniel and Matt Austin, said in a statement.
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A Fulton County judge on Tuesday signed subpoenas issued by a special grand jury in Atlanta to Graham and six lawyers — including former New York mayor and former federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani — who worked directly for or informally advised the Trump presidential campaign in its efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory in Georgia.
The subpoena issued to Graham said he made at least two calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff to “review certain absentee ballots placed in Georgia to explore the possibility of a more favorable exit for former President Donald Trump’.
In a statement Wednesday, Graham’s lawyers said that as then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Graham was fully within his rights to discuss with government officials the processes and procedures surrounding the administration of elections.”
“If upheld, the subpoena issued today would undermine the constitutional balance of power and the ability of a member of Congress to do their job,” the lawyers said. Senator Graham plans to go to court to challenge the subpoena and expects to prevail.”
The Fulton County District Attorney opened a criminal investigation last year after it was revealed that Trump called Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, while he was still president, and asked him to “find” him enough votes to to overturn Biden’s victory.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensperger.
That call came four days before the US Congress began meeting in joint session to confirm Biden’s electoral college victory.
A special committee of the House of Representatives is investigating the riot that began that day in the US Capitol, which interrupted the work of the joint session for hours.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
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