Graham argues in new filing that calls to Georgia election officials are protected

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday pushed back against a recent filing by the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney that asked a federal judge to support a subpoena against him as part of a probe into former President Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.

Graham’s attorneys for weeks have attempted to quash District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) subpoena issued as part of her probe into whether Trump or his allies broke the law with their efforts, and Wednesday’s filing is the final in a series of responses between the two sides as they attempt to convince the judge to support their arguments.

Willis in particular has expressed interest in hearing from Graham about a call he made to Georgia’s top election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), following the election.

The South Carolina senator’s latest filing continues to argue that the call is protected under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from lawsuits and prosecution for things they say and do as part of their legislative work, and it requests the court quash the entire subpoena.

Willis on Monday told a federal trial court judge that Graham’s argument “defies the facts, this court’s holdings, Supreme Court precedent and the interests of the public,” adding that the call is not protected legislative activity.

Graham’s attorneys on Wednesday contested that claim, arguing Graham placed the call to investigate a problem of legislative concern. 

They cited Graham’s roles as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman in reviewing election-related issues and as a senator involved in counting the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021. His attorneys also said he relied on the information in the calls to declare President Biden as the legitimate president and to co-sponsor legislation amending the Electoral Count Act. 

“Senator Graham was duty bound to actually vote as to whether to certify the election, and so he had to run those allegations down — and he therefore called….the one person who would know best: Secretary Raffensperger,” Graham’s attorney wrote in the new filing.

Willis first subpoenaed Graham in early July. The senator dismissed the probe as politically motivated and filed a motion to quash the subpoena.

U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May then denied Graham’s motion to quash the subpoena. But Graham appealed, and a three-judge appeals court panel temporarily paused the subpoena earlier this month, sending it back to the district court to examine a partial quashing based on the Speech and Debate Clause.

Graham’s filing on Wednesday is the final iteration in a back-and-forth between his attorneys and Willis’s office requested by the district court judge. Once the judge comes to a resolution, the matter will be returned to the appeals court for further consideration.