Judge Orders Lindsey Graham Testify In GA Criminal Investigation

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A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled against an attempt by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to get out of questioning in an ongoing criminal investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into election meddling.

Willis is examining the multi-faceted efforts by Trump and key associates of his to undercut Biden’s win in Georgia after the last presidential election. One of the most prominent examples is Trump’s pressure on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for action on the election results. Graham’s involvement consisted of communications with Raffensperger in which available details indicate the Senator raised the prospect of discarding entire counties’ caches of mail-in ballots — something that would obviously mean discarding legally cast votes. Biden’s win in Georgia, by less than one-fourth of a percentage point, could have easily been jeopardized by slight alterations to ballot totals.

Graham claimed constitutional protections in his defense that would ordinarily apply to official business conducted by members of Congress. The problem — well, one of the problems — is it wasn’t clear Graham’s discussions with Raffensperger were actually legislative business meaningfully oriented around Graham’s votes in Congress on certifying the election outcome and his then-role as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The 11th Circuit judges, in line with a previous ruling from a District Court judge, shielded Graham from questioning about fact-finding ambitions related to his legislative role. However, topics available for scrutiny before the special grand jury where Graham was directed to testify include potential coordination with the Trump campaign and pressure for Georgia officials to change their methods of handling elections.

Graham has not been deemed a target of the Willis investigation, but in theory, that’s a possibility. Rudy Giuliani, the longtime Trump ally who lied to Georgia legislators about the election and was involved with the scheme to assemble essentially faked electoral votes, wasn’t informed of his status as a target — meaning criminal charges are possible — until shortly before he was scheduled to appear for testimony. The district attorney has also spoken of the opportunity for the Senator’s answers to point investigators towards further lines of relevant inquiry. Graham was originally subpoenaed in July, and federal Judge Leigh Martin May and the 11th Circuit have repeatedly dealt with his challenge. At an earlier stage, the 11th Circuit directed further examination by May of the relevant issues, and after she largely ruled against Graham (again), that led him here.

Willis announced the implementation of a pre-Election Day quiet period for public investigative work, avoiding even the appearance of political motivations surrounding the midterm elections, and the precise date he will appear is not clear. “There is significant dispute about whether [Graham’s] phone calls with Georgia election officials were legislative investigations at all,” the appeals court judges said. “The [district] court’s partial quashal enabled a process through which that dispute can be resolved. The District Attorney can ask about non-investigatory conduct that falls within the subpoena’s scope, but the District Attorney may not ask about any investigatory conduct.” The district court action to which the appeals judges referred was May’s follow-up decision restricting questions about legislative activities but allowing inquiries about other topics, with Graham retaining the opportunity for challenging individual questions before the jury. The Senator could still appeal.