Washington — The Georgia prosecutor investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results is seeking to compel several Trump allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham, to testify before a special grand jury. investigating the scheme.
Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis petitioned the judge presiding over the panel to issue certifications designating Giuliani, Graham and others as material witnesses in the investigation, the first step in asking courts in other states to compel witnesses in Georgia. Conservative attorney John Eastman and expert witness Jackie Deason were also identified as material witnesses, as were Trump attorneys Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported the move to compel witness testimony. The affidavits state that witnesses will have to testify as early as July 12.
A lawyer for Giuliani said the former New York mayor “has not been served with a subpoena.” A spokesman for Graham did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
The certificate naming Giuliani as a material witness marked his appearance at a Georgia state senate hearing in December 2020. Serving as Trump’s personal attorney, Giuliani presented allegations of voter fraud that were quickly debunked, but he continued to repeats publicly, the certificate I said.
“There is evidence that the Witness’s appearance and testimony at the hearing were part of a coordinated multi-state plan by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere,” the affidavit states.
Graham’s testimony document states that he spoke with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shortly after the election. Graham “questioned Secretary Raffensperger and his staff regarding the reexamination of certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome” for Trump, the certificate states.
Graham acknowledged the phone calls in the past and denied any allegations of wrongdoing, telling “Face the Nation” in January that he “asked how the system works when it comes to vote-by-mail, voting.”
President Biden won Georgia in 2020 by a narrow margin, and Republican election officials in the state have repeatedly said and testified that allegations of widespread voter fraud are unfounded.
Trump has been pressuring Raffensperger and other officials to “find” enough votes to win, according to a tape of a phone conversation between Trump and Raffensperger obtained by CBS News last year. During the conversation on January 2, 2021, the president told Raffensperger, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
The special grand jury was empaneled in January at the request of Willis, the district attorney. The investigation includes the conversation between Raffensperger and Trump, and the secretary of state was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in June. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also agreed to give a taped statement under oath to a grand jury on July 25.
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Katherine Watson
Katherine Watson is a political reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, DC
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