Congressman Hice fights subpoena from Fulton special grand jury

ATLANTA - New court filings made public Monday revealed that Georgia Congressman Jody Hice does not want to appear before the Fulton County special purpose grand jury investigating whether former President Trump and others interfered with the 2020 election.

The special grand jury was selected and sworn in on May 2, 2022, and tasked with investigating "the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia."

The grand jury subpoenaed Rep. Hice and ordered him to appear on July 19. Hice received that subpoena on June 29

Attorneys for the congressman, however, filed a "Notice of Removal," which argued that according to a federal law, members of Congress do not have to appear in state court. Any discussions Hice had as he investigated "alleged irregularities" in the election were within his authority as a member of Congress and are shielded by the U.S. Constitution from any legal proceedings and inquiry, his lawyer wrote in the filing. High-ranking officials, such as members of Congress, also should not be called as witnesses unless the information that they could provide cannot be obtained from another source, the filing says.

"Since Congressman Hice is a member of the United States House of Representatives and is being asked to testify pursuant to a state-issued subpoena, the federal officer removal statute should apply, and this action should therefore be removed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia," the notice reads.

Georgia Secretary of State candidate Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) speaks to the crowd during a rally as former US President Donald Trump watches on September 25, 2021 in Perry, Georgia. Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Georgia Lieutenant Gube

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Hice, who will leave office in January after an unsuccessful bid to unseat Raffensperger, was one of several GOP lawmakers who attended a December 2020 meeting at the White House in which Trump allies discussed various ways to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral win. Hice joined other members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative wing of the chamber, in the hourslong meeting to discuss with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows two specific strategies to subvert the election results.

The first was an effort to appoint an alternate slate of electors who would falsely declare Donald Trump was the winner in seven battleground states won by Biden. The second was a plan to ramp up a pressure campaign against then-Vice President Mike Pence to disregard the true electoral votes from those seven states when he presided over the ceremonial certification process on Jan. 6, 2021.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows, revealed the details of the White House meeting to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

A number of top Republican state officials — including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — have already testified before the special grand jury. Gov. Brian Kemp is set to give a sworn recorded statement on July 25.

Earlier this month, Willis began a process to subpoena out-of-state witnesses to testify. That included some close Trump 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 filed a motion to quash in federal court in South Carolina to try to fight Willis’ attempt to get him to testify.

Willis, a Democrat, has indicted that she’s interested in the actions of the group of 16 Georgia Republicans who, acting as an alternate slate of electors, signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state when it was actually Biden who got the most votes.

There is no word on when a judge will rule on whether Congressman Hice must appear.

The Associated Press contribute to this report