Sen. Lindsey Graham's most recent attempt to dodge a subpoena to testify before a grand jury looking into suspected election involvement in the state was rejected by a federal court in Georgia on Friday.
Graham's attorneys had requested that Judge Leigh Martin May temporarily overturn the earlier this week issued ruling that rejected their client's request to have the grand jury subpoena canceled.
Judge Denies Graham's Appeal To Delay Testimony
Graham's legal team requested May to suspend her judgement while their appeal was being heard by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a court document filed on Friday, the Fulton County district attorney's office asked the judge to reject the motion, contending that Graham's political wrangling had already wasted valuable time for the special grand jury. The DA's office said that Graham's attendance was originally requested in early July, NBC News reported.
The District Attorney's office noted that it was trying to give the Senator's essential evidence "six weeks later, after litigation in three distinct jurisdictions," stressing that a stay of May's decision may result in months of more litigation.
Per The Independent, the South Carolina Republican had argued that since he is a "high-ranking government official" and the "speech or debate" provision of the US Constitution forbids the court from ordering him to appear, he is exempt from having to testify before the grand jury.
The "speech or debate" provision, which only protects senators' official conduct from examination, Judge May wrote, "there are vast areas of possible grand jury investigation" that were not covered by those assertions. She rejected both of those arguments.
Sen. Lindsey Graham's Testimony Is "Crucial"
Graham had submitted a second motion to the court, requesting that the judge suspend her decision and seek an order barring the grand jury from acting on the subpoena until his appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was resolved. However, Judge May denied his motion, noting in a decision on Friday that he had not demonstrated a chance of winning his appeal.
According to a district attorney in the Atlanta region, Sen. Lindsey Graham's testimony is "crucial" for the investigation into 2020 election meddling. CNN reports that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made the assertion in a court document that rejected the South Carolina senator's argument that he shouldn't be required to appear before the grand jury.
He must testify, according to the prosecution, since it could result in a "revelation" about the case. The Fulton County District Attorney's Office claimed that Graham is essential to the investigation "not only because he knows critical and substantial information but also because he is expected to give information on further sources of pertinent information."
According to the Washington Post, Willis wants to interrogate Graham about interactions the senator had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over election-related activities.
Trump has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. The district attorney is looking into claims of a conspiracy orchestrated by the former president and his allies, which she describes as "a multistate, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere."
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