Senator Lindsey Graham granted temporary reprieve for Ga. grand jury testimony

A federal appeals court temporarily suspended the order, which was supposed to required Senator Lindsey O. Graham (RSC) to testify before Georgia grand jurors investigate Republican attempts to cancel 2020 presidential election results in state.

Graham formally appealed against the judge’s ruling requiring him to testify on Tuesday, saying it was cause “irreparable harm”, which will be “in violation of his constitutional immunity.

US court of Appeals for 11th constituency on Sunday temporarily postponed his appearance on hold, asking a lower court to consider whether Graham is should be protected from answers to certain questions about his official duties of a US senator.

Legal maneuvering is latest sign of voltage between prosecutors and famous witnesses in Fulton County District Attorney criminal probe of alleged electoral interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies. Seeking repeated delays, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s spokesman former lawyer, testified for six hours last a week.

panel heard evidence from the Secretary of Georgia of State Brad Ruffensperger (R) and his staff, Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr (R), state legislators and local election officials. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp filed a 121-page petition. last week, aiming for kill subpoena requiring his testimony.

Graham called the Georgia investigation a “fishing expedition” and said the constitution’s “speech or debate clause” protects lawmakers from answering questions about their official legislative obligations. His lawyers say Graham did nothing. wrong and that they were told that Graham was a witness for accusation, not target of investigation.

Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis (D) expressed interest in asking Graham about the conversations he had in commemoration of 2020 election with Raffensperger, among others. In court documents, Willis said her investigation was looking into “a multi-stakeholder, coordinated effort to influence results of elections in November 2020 in Georgia and other countries. Submission from her office Friday argued that delaying Graham’s appearance would “delay disclosure.” of whole category of relevant witnesses”, pushing back timeline of investigation.

District Attorney says Graham’s testimony is crucial in pre-election investigation

US District Judge Lee Martin May on Friday denied Graham’s request to delay his testimony, as well as his request for emergency hearing.

“Senator Graham’s arguments are completely unconvincing, and they don’t even show ‘substantial arguments’. on on the merits,” the judge wrote at the time. leading Graham’s lawyers are filing an emergency appeal.

On Sunday, an appeals court ruled that a lower court review disputes over whether Graham is entitled to “partial cancellation or modification of subpoena” with a request to testify. Once this lower court review is complete the appellate court said it would consider the matter.

While Graham continues efforts to kill his agenda, member of Congress who once raised similar objections, Rep. Jody Hayes (R-Georgia) testified before special grand jury for more than two hours last week, his lawyer said.

Like Graham, Hayes sought kill subpoena citing constitutional protection of point of speech or debate. Judge May also rejected Hayes’s offer. Hayes is Trump’s ally who repeated false claims of widespread electoral fraud since the 2020 election, and in his failed bet for Georgia secretary of state.

John Wagner and Matthew Brown contributed to this report.

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