On Sunday, a panel of federal appeals court judges temporarily postponed Sen. Lindsey Graham's testimony in Atlanta before a Fulton County special grand jury related to an escalating criminal investigation into whether former President Donald Trump or his associates violated any state law in their efforts to have the 2020 presidential election results overturned in Georgia.
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a temporary stay on Graham's testimony on Sunday, delaying it while a lower court analyzes concerns regarding the sorts of questions that may and cannot be submitted to Graham owing to safeguards afforded to members of Congress under the US Constitution.
Graham Testimony in 2020 Election Probe Put on Hold
On August 15, US District Judge Leigh Martin May refused Graham's plea to quash his subpoena, and on Friday she declined his motion to stay her judgment while he appealed. The three-judge court, composed of two Trump appointments and one Clinton appointee, issued an order temporarily halting May's ruling rejecting to dismiss the subpoena, Fox News reported.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has stated that her team wishes to question Graham regarding phone conversations he made with Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Graham has maintained that voting for election certification was part of his responsibilities as a legislator.
He said the queries were protected by the Speech or Debate Article of the Constitution, which prohibits a municipal authority from interrogating a senator about official legislative activities. May ruled last week that the Republican possesses knowledge relevant to the grand jury's investigation into the Trump campaign's apparent plans to reverse the election results.
Willis initiated the investigation in March 2021, following Trump's call to Raffensperger on January 2, that year, requesting him to find the votes needed to overturn President Biden's victory in the state's presidential race, as per New York Post.
Court Previously Denied Graham's Bid To Avoid Providing Testimony
According to court filings submitted in support of the subpoena request, Graham phoned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff twice in the weeks following the election, requesting more scrutiny of absentee votes.
Graham claims that when he contacted Georgia authorities, he was conducting a valid inquiry as a legislator under the Constitution's speech and debate provision. He has denied pressing authorities to remove ballots, claiming that he was only trying to understand how other states review ballots.
Georgia was the epicenter of former President Donald Trump's bogus election claims. He had contacted Raffensperger, requesting that the secretary of state locate more votes to reverse his defeat in the state to Joe Biden. The appeals court decision comes after a district judge refused Graham's request to avoid testifying last week, saying Georgia prosecutors had established unusual circumstances and a unique necessity for Graham's evidence, according to USA Today.
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