The Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury that recommended charges against former president Donald Trump over his efforts to disrupt the 2020 election also suggested charges be brought against Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.).
In January, 13 jurors recommended Graham be charged for pressuring Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger during multiple phone calls to “find” enough Republican votes in Georgia to overturn the election results, according to the full grand-jury report released Friday.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis declined to indict Graham and at least 10 other Trump allies.
The newly unsealed report, which was partially released in February, named Trump attorneys Cleta Mitchell and Boris Epshteyn, former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn, and former Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, among the list of those who were not indicted last month.
The 26-page report comes more than three weeks after Trump and 18 co-defendants received a criminal indictment for allegedly conspiring to subvert President Joe Biden’s election results in Georgia. Graham managed to avoid such charges, unlike Trump.
The South Carolina senator was thought to have been part of the “national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, focused on efforts in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia,” according to the report.
Last November, Graham testified on his phone calls with Raffensperger. Originally hesitant to do so, he appeared before the grand jury after the Supreme Court ordered him to testify.
Raffensperger previously said Graham and other Republicans were pressing him to discount legally cast ballots in Georgia. However, Graham and his lawyers disagreed with that assessment, saying their conversations were “investigatory phone calls” to help make an informed decision about certifying Biden’s election in January 2021.
Following his testimony on the phone calls, the special grand jury ultimately failed to reach a unanimous consensus regarding Graham’s alleged involvement. Thirteen jurors voted for indicting him while seven voted no and one abstained from making a decision.