News

Lindsey Graham Must Testify in Georgia Elections Inquiry, Court Rules


ATLANTA – A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Senator Lindsey Graham must appear before a special grand jury investigating the efforts of former President Donald J. Trump and his allies. Trump’s election defeat in Georgia, although the court placed limits on the types of questions Mr. Graham could be asked.

The ruling means Graham, one day after the November 8 midterm elections, will most likely have to go to the Fulton County courthouse in downtown Atlanta to answer questions about the calls. phone he called Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, in the weeks following the 2020 election.

In a court document issued this summer, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert CI McBurney wrote that Mr. Graham, in the course of those phone calls, “interrogated Secretary Raffensperger and his staff on re-examination of several absentee ballots voted in Georgia in order to probe the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”

Neither Mr. Graham’s media representative nor his attorney could be reached for comment on Thursday, and a spokesman for Fani T. Willis, the Fulton district attorney, declined to comment. But the six-page ruling, from the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, is a blow to Mr. Graham, the South Carolina Republican who has transformed from a critic of Mr. avid fan and golfing partner of his than during Mr. Trump’s term in office.

Mr. Graham’s attorneys argued that the senator called Mr. Raffensperger because he needed to “remove allegations of irregularities in Georgia” before he voted to certify that President Biden was a winner. legitimate victory in the presidential election. The lawyers also said that, among other things, Mr. Graham was reviewing election-related issues in his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time.

After a subpoena was issued to Mr. Graham in July, he began a protracted legal battle in an attempt to avoid testifying in Atlanta. One of his main arguments was that any testimony he gave would violate the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents members of Congress from having to answer questions first. court for their legislative activities.

In early September, Judge Leigh Martin May of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the Terms of Speech and Debate actually shielded Mr. Graham, but only up to a point. She wrote that Mr. Graham did not have to answer any questions about his efforts to “investigate the truth” during his call with Mr. Raffensperger and his staff.

But the judge ruled that Mr. Graham could be questioned about other things, including his “alleged efforts to encourage Secretary Raffensperger or others to vote or change the procedures and rules Georgia’s electoral program”. The judge said Mr Graham could also be questioned about “alleged communication and coordination with the Trump campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia.”

The appeals court lined up behind the lower court in Thursday’s ruling, finding that Judge May correctly reasoned that “any of the non-investigative acts referred to in the subpoena should not be defended” by the Statements and Disputes, adding that there is “a dispute as to whether Senator Graham’s phone calls with Georgia election officials were of an investigative nature”.

The Court of Appeal also noted that Mr. Graham, during his testimony, would be likely to raise questions about whether specific questions posed to him would violate his constitutional protections. .

The Georgia investigation is being led by Willis, a Democrat, who said she was looking into the possibility of a large-scale, multi-defendant conspiracy or fraud case. Nearly 20 people have been identified as the target of the investigation, which means they could end up being charged. Among them was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, who made several false statements to Georgia lawmakers after the election.

Mr. Giuliani was among dozens of people called to testify before a secret grand jury. On Thursday, a person familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential procedure said that former Senator Kelly Loeffler testified before a special grand jury in August.

Mr. Graham’s legal team includes Donald F. McGahn II, who served as a White House adviser under Mr. Trump. The legal team said that prosecutors indicated to the research team that Mr. Graham was a witness and not the target of the investigation. But others involved in the Georgia investigation said they were told they were only witnesses, only to be told later that they were targets to face possible indictment.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button