Washington — The Georgia prosecutor examining former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results is seeking to compel several Trump allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham, to testify before the special grand jury investigating the scheme.
Fulton County District attorney Fani Willis requested that the judge who oversees the panel issue certificates determining Giuliani or Graham as material witnesses to the investigation. This is the first step in asking other courts to order the witnesses to come to Georgia. Trump lawyers Cleta Mitchell and Kenneth Chesebro were also identified as material witness.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to report the need to force witnesses to testify. The witnesses were required to testify in court as soon as July 12, according to the certificates.
Giuliani’s lawyer said Giuliani was not served with a subpoena. Graham spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The Georgia state senator in December 2020, Giuliani was listed as a material witness on the certificate that he was named. Giuliani was Trump’s personal lawyer. He presented voter fraud allegations that were quickly disproved, but he kept repeating them publicly, according to the certificate.
“There is evidence that witness testimony and witness appearances at hearings were part of a multistate coordinated plan by Trump Campaign in order to influence the November 2020 election results in Georgia and elsewhere,” said the certificate.
Graham’s testimony documents state that he spoke to Brad Raffensperger (Georgia Secretary of State) shortly after the election. According to the certificate, Graham “asked Secretary Raffensperger’s staff about reexamining certain absentee voting ballots in Georgia to examine the possibility of a better outcome” for Trump.
Graham acknowledged that he had received phone calls in the past but dismissed any claims of wrongdoing. Tell “Face the Nation!”In January, he asked about the system’s workings when it came to balloting and mail-in voting.
Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was won narrowly by President Biden. Republican election officials from the state repeatedly claimed and testified that claims of widespread voter fraud were baseless.
According to CBS News’s last year audio of Trump calling Raffensperger, Trump told Raffensperger and others to “find enough votes” so that he could win. Raffensperger was told by Trump that all he wanted to do was this during a call on January 2, 2021. I only want to find 11,780 voters, which is one more than what we have. We won the state.”
The grand jury special was empaneledWillis, district attorney, requested the investigation to be completed in January. The investigation also includes the call between Raffensperger & Trump. Called to testifyIn June, before the grand jury. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has also agreed that he would deliver a recorded sworn statement to the grand jury on July 25,
Source: CBS News
