The Fulton County district attorney’s office is pushing back against South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s request to squash a subpoena that would require him to testify in Georgia about his actions in the state related to the 2020 presidential election. A response filed by the office on Thursday added additional evidence as to why Graham should be subpoenaed and follow through with that demand. Prosecutors pushed back against Graham’s attorney’s arguments that Graham couldn’t be subpoenaed because of the “privilege derived from the Speech or Debate Clause of the United States Constitution.” That clause typically protects lawmakers like Graham from what they say during legislative activities being used against them.
Prosecutors found precedent establishing that such a privilege is utterly moot in this case, as Graham is being subpoenaed “as a witness before the special purpose grand jury investigating third-party crimes,” Thursday’s filing notes. Laura Clawson beautifully summarizes Graham’s defense as being, “Suck it, I’m a U.S. senator,” which actually isn’t good enough in a court of law! A hearing on the case is set for Wednesday, so soon this matter will be put to rest and Graham will likely be forced to testify about the intimate knowledge he appears to have about Donald Trump’s election overturning efforts in Georgia, such as his push to force election officials to somehow find “11,780 votes” that the former president believes should’ve gone time him in 2020.
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As Axios notes, Graham’s own pressuring of Georgia election officials is apparently news to Graham, who’s pushed back at such accusations by claiming his involvement in Georgia was simply to learn more about the state’s signature verification system. So far, Graham has been silent about this latest development in his case. His most recent tweet concerns the proposed Inflation Reduction Act, which he slammed in typical Trumpian terms.
That’s one vote we weren’t ever counting on. Thanks, Lindsey. Can’t wait to hear from you in Georgia!
