Sen. Lindsey Graham ordered to testify before grand jury in Trump election probe
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, May 5, 2022. The hearing is titled "Should Taxpayer Dollars Go to Companies th
ATLANTA - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has been ordered to testify in front of a special grand jury in Georgia investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies’ actions after the 2020 election. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled on Monday Sen. Graham must comply with the subpoena to testify.
Sen. Graham was one of a handful of Trump confidants and lawyers named last Tuesday in petitions filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her investigation into what she alleges was "a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."
In the petition, Willis wrote that Graham, a longtime Trump ally, made at least two telephone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of his staff in the weeks after the November 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. During those calls, Graham asked about reexamining certain absentee ballots "to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump," she wrote.
Graham attorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin, last Wednesday, slammed the probe as politically motivated. They argued complying to the subpoena "would erode the constitutional balance of power and the ability of a Member of Congress to do their job."
They also said they had been informed by Fulton County investigators that Graham "is neither a subject nor target of the investigation." Willis’ office has not confirmed their assertion.
Willis also filed petitions to compel cooperation from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was one of Trump’s primary lawyers during the failed efforts to overturn the result of the election, as well as lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Cleta Mitchell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Jacki Pick Deason.
Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani said last week his father was recovering after undergoing surgery to have two heart stents put in. Andrew Giuliani made the announcement while filling in for his father on the "The Rudy Giuliani Show" on radio.
Because Willis is trying to compel testimony from people who live outside of Georgia, she had to submit petitions for a judge’s approval. The judge overseeing the special grand jury signed off on her petitions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report