A federal judge on Friday ruled that GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham must appear before a special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in the state of Georgia.
In their motion, Graham’s attorneys argued that a provision of the Constitution provides absolute protection against a senator being questioned about legislative acts.
But U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May rejected the argument and ordered Graham to honor his subpoena for the grand jury, Associated Press’s Kate Brumback reported via the Huffington Post.
The South Carolina Republican is currently scheduled to appear on Tuesday. But he still has another motion to stay May’s ruling pending before the 11th Circuit and asked May to stay her ruling while that appeal plays out. May declined that request in her order on Friday.
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The judge also rejected Graham’s argument that the principle of “sovereign immunity” protects a U.S. senator from being summoned by a state prosecutor, Brumback reported.
The subpoena was issued on behalf of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who opened the investigation early last year and in July filed petitions seeking to compel testimony from seven Trump advisers and associates, including Graham.
As noted by HuffPost, Willis and her team have said they want to ask Graham about two phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff shortly after the 2020 general election. During those calls, Graham asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”
