Lindsey Graham and Rudy Giuliani among Trump allies hit with SUBPOENAS by Fulton County in its criminal investigations into ex-president’s ‘interference’ in the 2020 election – including his ‘find the votes’ phone call
- Atlanta grand jury closed in on Trump’s inner circle with subpoenas on Tuesday
- They included Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham as well as lawyers and advisers who worked on strategies to overturn the 2020 election results
- It is one of a number of investigations into interference in the election
- The probe was launched after it emerged that Trump had asked the Georgia secretary of state to find another 11,780 votes for him
A grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham and other Trump allies as it continues its criminal investigation of interference in the 2020 election.
The names targeted include lawyers and advisers including John Eastman, Kenneth Cheesebro and Jenna Ellis who worked on strategies to overturn Joe Biden’s win in key swing states.
It shows that the investigation has moved to Trump’s inner circle.
Copies of the subpoenas, signed off by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney and obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also list conservative lawyer and activist Cleta Mitchell as well as attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick.
Mitchell advised Trump during the infamous phone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump used the call to urge him to ‘find’ 11,780 votes – enough to give him the state.
Raffensperger also said he was contacted by Graham 10 days after the election asking if he was had the power to reject mailed ballots in certain counties.
Graham later denied that he was doing anything improper, and was simply asking for information to understand how the mail ballots were verified.
An Atlanta grand jury on Tuesday reportedly subpoenaed Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other allies as it probes claims of election interference
Sen. Lindsey Graham is also among the confidants named in subpoenas
The special grand jury was empaneled in May to hear evidence from a Georgia prosecutor’s investigation into Trump’s alleged effort to influence to election result.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked for the jury so that its subpoena power could be used to force witness to testify.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in his call with Raffensperger.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and the face of his efforts to overturn the 2020 result, testified three times before Georgia lawmakers in the aftermath of the election.
The grand jury is reportedly focused on those appearances when he peddled unfounded claims that tens of thousands of voters committed fraud and called on legislators to pick a new slate of presidential electors.
‘There are 10 ways to demonstrate that this election was stolen, that the votes were phony, that there were a lot of them, dead people, felons, phony ballots,’ Giuliani when he appeared on December 30.
Those appearances contributed to Giuliani having his license to practice law suspended in New York and Washington, D.C.
And he faced ridicule last month when a former Fulton County election worker told the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year that she had been harassed and threatened after Giuliani accused of handling a USB drive connected to fake votes.
Wandrea ArShaye ‘Shaye’ Moss testified that it was actually a ginger mint.
Eastman, a former law professor, has emerged as another key figure. He helped develop a plan to pressure Mike Pence to use his position as vice president to reject the official slate of Democratic electors sent by Georgia and replace them with an alternative set of Trump loyalists.
Former president Trump faces legal jeopardy from different directions, amid a slew of investigations into his business practises and his attempt to hold on to power in 2020
Last month, the House probe revealed that Eastman had asked to be placed on a ‘pardon list’ circulating among allies – hinting that he knew he was in legal jeopardy.
In March, a California federal judge declared it was ‘more likely than not’ that Trump and Eastman conspired to obstruct certification of the 2020 election, describing their strategy as a ‘coup in search of a legal theory.’
The subpoenas show how a slew of investigations continues to pursue Trump and his allies since leaving office.
A D.C. grand jury is making its way through similar territory to the Atlanta probe.
Agents raided the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who played a leading role in Trump’s attempt to pressure states to investigate his fraud claims.
And the House committee has attempted to show that Trump knew his supporters were intent on trouble when he urged them to walk up to the Capitol building on Jan. 6 last year.
Meanwhile, his businesses are under scrutiny in New York.
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