Judge Freezes Order Requiring Lindsey Graham To Testify In Trump Election Case
A federal court Sunday temporarily halted the Fulton County District Court’s order that Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify in the investigation of former President Donald Trump and associates’ alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.
Investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had said in July that Graham called Georgia Secretary Brad Raffensperger and members of his staff at least twice in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election to question them about examining particular Georgia absentee ballots “to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome” for Trump,” according to The Associated Press.
Graham had previously been ordered to testify in the case by a district judge, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the order Sunday.
US District Judge Leigh Martin May declared Aug. 15 that Graham must obey the Fulton County grand jury’s subpoena demanding he testify, despite his defense arguing the U.S. Constitution’s “Speech or Debate” clause protected him from being forced to do so. The clause stops members of Congress from being arrested “during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”
The court ordered May Sunday to review if the “Speech and Debate Clause” required the subpoena’s revision or eliminating part of it. (RELATED: Dem-Appointed Judge Opens The Door To More Men Being Housed In Women’s Prisons)
Graham’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
“We will take this as far as we need to take it. I was Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and had to vote on certifying an election,” Graham previously said in a statement to the DCNF. “We will go as far as we need to go and do whatever needs to be done to make sure that people like me can do their jobs without fear of some county prosecutor coming after you.”
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