A Republican senator told CNN Wednesday after his lawyer filed in federal court in South Carolina to thwart the subpoena.
“During the call, Witnesses with Secretary Lafence Purger on revisiting a particular absentee ballot cast in Georgia to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump. I asked the staff, “Willis wrote in her court filing for Graham’s testimony. “Witnesses also referred to a widespread alleged fraudulent vote in the November 2020 Georgia election, which is consistent with an official statement by a known member of the Trump campaign.”
Judge Robert McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court, who oversees the grand jury, approved the subpoena and said: Raffensperger is a necessary and important witness in this investigation. ”
In Graham’s filings to thwart the subpoena, his lawyer said that the Senator’s call to Georgian authorities was a legislative activity, and his activity was protected under a constitutional speech and debate clause. Said.
According to Graham’s court submission, “Senator Graham did not commit himself to the Georgia election process and did not try to change the outcome of the election. Discuss absentee votes and Georgia procedures. “. His contact with Georgia officials was “Graham as then-chairman and incumbent US Senator of the Senate Judiciary Committee needed to decide whether to certify voters’ votes before a congressional joint meeting. It is a legislative activity that corresponds to the senator’s fact-finding and monitoring responsibilities.
Lafence Purger told CNN in November 2020 that South Carolina Republican Graham, then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, destroyed part of Georgia’s ballot during a state-wide audit. He said he hinted that he should try.
“He asked if he could return the ballot to voters,” Lafence Purger told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in the “Situation Room” at the time. “And when he saw the counties with the most signature errors, he felt that it meant that they could be thrown away. That’s the impression I got.”
“It meant,’Look closely and see how many votes you can cast,'” Lafence Purger added.
When asked if the Secretary of State was trying to pressure him to throw a statutory ballot, Graham told CNN at the time, “It’s ridiculous.” Graham said he was trying to figure out how the signature was verified on mail ballots in various fierce battle states.
On Wednesday, reporters pressured Graham on whether he would appear before a grand jury if the judge ordered it.
“Call me when the court decides,” Graham said.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
Source: www.cnn.com
