Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, had a little respite on Sunday when a federal judge in Atlanta postponed his appearance before a Georgia grand jury.
Tuesday’s scheduled testimony by Graham was part of the Fulton County District Attorney’s investigation into any attempts by Donald Trump and his associates to rig Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The senator had already tried to use his influence as an elected official to thwart the grand jury’s subpoena in July.
According to Graham, testifying would “violate his constitutional immunity.”
On Monday, a judge rejected both that defence and Graham’s attorneys’ allegations that District Attorney Fani Willis had political motivations.
However, according to NBC News, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals decided in Graham’s favour on Sunday and remanded the case to a lower court.
His testimony will now be postponed while the court considers whether Graham is protected by the US Constitution’s “speech and debate” section.
Legislators are permitted to avoid giving testimony regarding their activities under this rule.
According to WSB-TV, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney had scheduled Graham’s testimony for August 2.
Graham was deemed to be a “necessary and material witness” to the inquiry by McBurney in July.
The now-famous phone call between then-president Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the Republican official was pressed to ‘find’ the number of votes required for him to defeat President Joe Biden’s narrow electoral victory there, served as the catalyst for the Fulton County investigation.
Trump was surprised at the moment that Raffensperger had taped the conversation.
Willis asserts that Graham called Raffensperger and his employees at least twice after the 2020 election, according to a court document from last month.
Willis said that Graham had “asked Secretary Raffensperger and his team about reexamining some absentee votes cast in Georgia to examine the prospect of a more favourable result for former President Donald Trump.”
Additionally, the senator’made reference to suspicions of significant voting fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, similar with public remarks made by known associates of the Trump Campaign’, according to the report.
Graham was granted a provisional pardon after the Georgia grand jury heard testimony from former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani about his attempts to further the ex-beliefs president’s about election fraud.
According to WSB-TV, Giuliani testified before the grand jury for six hours last week.
Prior to or during his entry into the Fulton County courtroom, he did not speak with the media about his testimony.
However, only a few days after his testimony, the former mayor of New York City praised Willis in a Sunday radio appearance.
The district attorney’s office in Fulton County handled me professionally. Giuliani spoke to John Catsimatidis of the Cats Roundtable radio programme on WABC and said, “The DA came out and shook hands with me at the conclusion.
Despite the fact that they had a question, the grand jury’s forelady shook my hand and praised me for my service to the nation. Nobody has been friendly in this inquiry before.