ATLANTA (CN) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham filed a motion Wednesday morning seeking to partially quash his subpoena in the Georgia election interference investigation, after an appeals court ordered a district court to reexamine if legislative immunity shields him from certain questions.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team claim that Graham is a "necessary and material witness" to their special grand jury investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and members of his campaign were involved in "multi-state, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."
The South Carolina Republican initially sought to quash his subpoena entirely, arguing that the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution shields himself and other members of the U.S. House and Senate from being questioned in court about their legislative activities and the motivations behind them.
That motion was denied last week by U.S. District Judge Leigh May, who wrote in her order that there was “a special need for Mr. Graham’s testimony on issues relating to alleged attempts to influence or disrupt the lawful administration of Georgia’s 2022 elections.”
After Graham appealed the judge's order for him to testify before the grand jury, the 11th Circuit instructed the lower court to consider granting a partial quashal of his subpoena or modifications to it, to clarify the scope of the district attorney's questioning.
Willis's team has indicated that the core of Graham's testimony would revolve around phone calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff following the 2020 presidential election, during which Graham allegedly asked about reexamining certain absentee ballots "to explore a more favorable outcome" for Trump.
On Monday, May instructed Graham's attorneys to detail what questions or categories of information he seeks to be protected from in their new motion, but they have instead asked the court "to prohibit any questioning about the investigation and the motives behind it."
In Wednesday's motion, Graham's attorney Brian Lea argues that the senator made calls to the Raffensperger because he "sought to educate himself and investigate various allegations regarding the 2020 election," and that any questioning regarding the calls should be barred because they constitute protected legislative activity.
"At the very least, therefore, the Court should modify or quash the Subpoena to prevent questioning concerning Senator Graham’s telephone calls to the extent they pertain to the 2020 election and Senator Graham’s motive for making them, along with any associated topics covered by the Subpoena—e.g., the 'circumstances surrounding' the decision to make them, the logistics of setting them up, communications with others 'involved in [their] planning and execution,' and any follow-on communications and public statements," wrote Lea.
Prosecutors have indicated that they also want to question Graham regarding various public statements he made following the phone calls.
They allege that Graham not only spread election fraud disinformation during appearances on Fox News, but that a public dispute exists about the context of the controversial calls because he told reporters that Raffensperger's interpretation of them is false.
Raffensperger told reporters in November 2020 that Graham called and “implied for us to audit the envelopes, and then throw out the ballots for counties who [have] the highest frequency error of signatures.”
"Certainly, responding publicly to reports on the investigative calls cannot somehow waive Speech or Debate protection, or somehow allow for a backdoor into questions about the calls," Graham's motion states.
The district attorney's office has until 9 a.m. on Monday to file its response to Graham's motion, to which he will then have two days to reply.
As Graham was originally scheduled to appear before the grand jury on Tuesday, pursuant to May's first order, he has now managed to postpone his testimony for at least another week.
Also on Wednesday, Trump's former campaign manager Jenna Ellis will travel from Colorado to Atlanta to testify before the grand jury about her alleged role in supporting false claims of voter fraud with Rudy Giuliani, who testified as a target of the investigation last week.
Attorneys for Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp will appear Thursday before the Fulton County Superior Court judge overseeing the grand jury in an attempt to challenge his subpoena that he claims Willis is misusing for political "gamesmanship."
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