Fulton County prosecutors in Georgia investigating the efforts of Donald Trump to subvert the 2020 election yes they can force the senator Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury investigating his phone calls with top Georgia election officials, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit unanimously rejected the claim of the Republican senator from South Carolina that he is constitutionally immune from such challenges.
Although Graham cannot be questioned about any conversations he had in support of his legislative activity in the Senate, the panel ruled, prosecutors may question him about his “coordination” with the Trump campaign to arrange his calls with Georgia officials, as well as efforts to pressure those officials, amid an ongoing audit, to change the outcome of the Georgia presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, according to Politico.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office awaits question Graham about his call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who said Graham pressured him in exchange for adopting a different methodology for reviewing mail-in ballots.
Graham has argued in court filings that the call was more benign in nature and was part of the legislative investigation, due to his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In early 2021, in the final weeks of his presidency, Trump himself called Raffensperger and pressed him to “find” enough ballots to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. That call is also an important component of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office’s investigation.