A Fulton County judge ordered Republican Senator and former Trump ally Lindsey Graham to testify before a special grand jury in the Georgia probe into the former president’s alleged interference in the 2020 election.
Graham received a subpoena last week compelling him to appear in court in August. Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney, who issued the order and has been overseeing and assisting the grand jury, called Graham a “necessary and material witness.” He will likely be asked to explain his two alleged phone calls to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, made in November 2020 as the election unfolded. The senator’s attorneys said he would resist the subpoena.
During the phone conversation, Graham allegedly asked Raffensperger whether he had the authority to discard all mail ballots, presumably legally cast, in certain Georgia counties, Raffensperger told The Washington Post in a November 2020 interview.
The judge’s order said the grand jury wants to scrutinize these calls in which Graham allegedly asked Raffensperger to begin by “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”
Graham was one of eight individuals to be summoned, in addition to members of Trump’s former legal team including personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
The investigation at hand began after Trump was recorded in a phone call urging Raffensperger to reject the state’s election results, citing rampant voter fraud. Trump allegedly insisted that Raffensperger “find” enough votes to win him Georgia instead instead of opponent Joe Biden.
In the call, Trump seems to tell Raffensperger, “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” the missing margin needed to defeat Biden in the state, according to a transcript.
His phone calls, intended to pressure Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s administration, may have violated at least three state election laws, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, and intentional interference with performance of election duties.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who initially requested the special grand jury to compel testimony from uncooperative witnesses in January 2022, last week first encouraged Graham to testify voluntarily after the senator accused her of collaborating with the largely partisan January 6 committee.
“It is my hope that Sen. Graham will have a moment of quiet reflection and decide to bring truthful testimony before this grand jury that wants to hear from him on some very important issues,” Willis said.