ATLANTA — A federal judge on Monday denied an attempt from South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to dodge testifying before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating meddling in Georgia’s 2020 elections.
U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May ruled that there are “considerable areas” of the grand jury’s inquiry that fall outside of the Constitution’s “Speech or Debate” clause, which shields members of Congress from testifying about legislative business.
Among them, she wrote, are statements about the 2020 election given outside of Congress, “efforts to ‘cajole’ or ‘exhort’ state election officials to change practices or alter election results” and any potential coordination with the Trump campaign or other third parties regarding Georgia’s electoral votes.
Prosecutors from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, which is leading the grand jury investigation, argued at a hearing before May last week that Graham’s Nov. 2020 phone calls with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger were fair game because they fell far outside the scope of a senator’s typical legislative duties.
Graham’s lawyers had argued that the calls fell within the senator’s fact-finding duties as the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
May also rejected an argument from Graham’s lawyers that he should not be approached for testimony because he’s a high-ranking government official.
“The Court finds that the District Attorney has shown extraordinary circumstances and a special need for Senator Graham’s testimony on issues relating to alleged attempts to influence or disrupt the lawful administration of Georgia’s 2022 elections,” May wrote.
Graham’s subpoena is directing him to appear before the grand jury on Aug. 23.
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