Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has asked a federal judge to quash a subpoena for his testimony issued by a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in that state’s 2020 election by former President Donald Trump. Graham’s move in U.S. District Court in South Carolina came after a judge in Atlanta signed a Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury subpoena to the Republican lawmaker on Monday. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered that Graham, a close Trump ally, must testify Aug. 2 before a grand jury. That grand jury is seeking evidence of efforts by Trump and others to persuade Georgia officials to overturn the election there won by President Joe Biden.
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Read more about CNBC’s political coverage: In the 13-page motion asking a federal judge to quash the subpoena, Graham’s lawyers wrote, “the Constitution’s speech or debate clause protects him from this legal process” and that “sovereign immunity bars enforcement of state judicial process against him as a federal officer.” The lawyers also argued that “there are no extraordinary circumstances that require his testimony.” Graham said in a statement: “What I’m trying to do is go about my day job. If we open up county attorneys to be able to subpoena any member of the Senate based on some investigation that they think is good for the country, that would open up Pandora’s box. The subpoena issued to Graham on July 5 says he made at least two phone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff regarding the “review of certain absentee ballots taken in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for the former president Donald Trump.” Graham’s attorneys said last week that Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, who is handling the Trump investigation, told them he is “neither a subject nor a target of the investigation, just a witness.” Willis requested a grand jury subpoena for Graham and other Trump allies. In their motion, Graham’s lawyers wrote: “The prosecution’s efforts to compel Senator Graham to appear are an abuse of process. especially given the immunity and privilege afforded by the Speech or Debate Clause, and sovereign immunity.” CNBC has reached out to Graham’s attorneys and the DA’s office for comment. The same court that has subpoenaed Graham also issued a subpoena seeking testimony from Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer who led Trump’s legal efforts to overturn Biden’s election victory, and other lawyers who assisted Giuliani in that effort. It is known that Trump called Raffensperger on January 2, 2021, two days before Biden’s victory was to be certified by Congress. In that call Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told him. Trump’s team was trying to reverse his popular vote losses in Georgia and several other states won by Democrat Biden in order to nullify Biden’s margin of victory in the Electoral College.
