ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jody Hayes of Georgia is fighting a subpoena that wants him to testify before a special grand jury investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others tried to illegally interfere in the state’s 2020 election.
The subpoena, which Hees received on June 29, orders him to appear before a special grand jury in Atlanta on Tuesday, his attorney said in a court filing. Hees filed a motion Monday to quash the subpoena in federal court in Atlanta.
Any discussions Hayes had while investigating “alleged irregularities” in the election were within his authority as a member of Congress and protected by the US Constitution from any legal proceedings and investigations, his lawyer wrote in the filing. High-ranking officials, such as members of Congress, also should not be called as witnesses unless the information they could provide cannot be obtained from another source, the filing said.
Hees is trying to challenge his subpoena in federal court rather than the Fulton County Superior Court judge who oversees the special grand jury.
Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis launched an investigation early last year into whether Trump and his allies committed any crimes as they tried to overturn his narrow loss in the state. At her request, a special grand jury with subpoenas was convened in May.
A number of top Republican government officials — including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — have already testified before the special grand jury. Gov. Brian Kemp is scheduled to give a taped statement under oath on July 25.
Hees, who will leave office in January after a failed attempt to oust Raffensperger, was one of several GOP lawmakers who attended a December 2020 meeting at the White House where Trump allies discussed various ways to overturn the election victory of Joe Biden. Hees joined other members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative wing of the chamber, in the hours-long meeting to discuss with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows two specific strategies to undermine the election results.
The first was an attempt to appoint an alternate list of electors to falsely declare Trump the winner in seven battleground states won by Biden. The second was a plan to step up a campaign to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to ignore the genuine electoral votes from those seven states when he presided over the January 6, 2021, ceremonial certification process.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows, revealed details of the White House meeting to the House committee investigating the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Earlier this month, Willis began a process to subpoena out-of-state witnesses to testify. That includes some of Trump’s close advisers and allies, including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who also served as Trump’s lawyer.
Graham has a hearing scheduled in federal court in South Carolina later this week to try to resist Willis’ attempt to get him to testify.
Willis, a Democrat, is accused of being interested in the actions of a group of 16 Georgia Republicans who, acting as an alternate list of voters, signed a certificate stating that Trump had won the state when in fact Biden had won the -lots of votes.
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Associated Press writer Farnoosh Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
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