Sen. Lindsey Graham Must Testify About Effort To Overturn 2020 Elections, Court Rules

A federal appeal court ruled on Thursday that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) — a Donald Trump ally — must comply with a subpoena to testify before a grand jury investigating the former president’s effort to overturn the election in 2020.

Atlanta-area prosecutors want to ask Graham about phone calls he made to Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 elections.

Graham’s legal battle to avoid testifying started in July, when a subpoena was issued to him. The senator claimed that answering a grand jury about his legislative actions would violate the Speech and Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Thursday’s decision agreed that Graham can not be asked about activities to support his legislative actions but determined the immunity does not apply to questions about his coordination with the Trump campaign and efforts to pressure Georgia’s election officials amid the result’s audit.

The court noted, however, that Graham can raise during his testimony issues about specific questions that might be shielded by his constitutional protections.

Graham’s lawyers claim that the senator called Raffensperger to ask about “allegations of irregularities in Georgia” before he voted to certify President Joe Biden election in Congress.

The senator’s legal team has said previously that he would take the case to the Supreme Court in case of defeat in the court of appeals.