Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was “totally surprised” after it was revealed that a special grand jury recommended he face charges following alleged attempts by former President Donald Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
When Trump and 18 others were indicted last month, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately decided not to charge Graham, and opted not to charge several others, including former Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and former Trump official Michael Flynn.
“At the end of the day, nothing happened,” Graham told reporters in his home state Friday. “What I did was consistent with my job as being a U.S. senator, chair of the Judiciary Committee. … I think the system in this country is getting off the rails, and we have to be careful not to use the legal system as a political tool.”
Graham said he didn’t read the full grand jury report, but was caught off guard when he discovered that jury members recommended his prosecution. He said he did not have any further communication with its members after they had had a two-hour conversation in November of last year.
“It’s over for me,” Graham said. “I was totally surprised. … I never suggested anybody set aside the election. I never said, ‘Go find votes.’ I never said anything other than trying to find how the mail-in balloting system worked.”
When he was asked what members of the special grand jury asked him when he was called to testify last year, he said he was questioned about a phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election and whether he believed the election was stolen.
When asked if he believed the election was stolen at the time of the call, he said, “I didn’t know … the state of play of the fraud allegations” at the time.
Graham also expressed his belief that Trump will be the nominee for the 2024 election against President Joe Biden and promised to support him if he receives the nomination. He previously fought the subpoena by the special grand jury up to the Supreme Court, a request which was ultimately rejected on Nov. 1.
The 26-member special grand jury spent approximately seven months hearing from more than 75 witnesses as part of the investigation.
Trump, along with 18 other associates, including several of his former attorneys, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffery Clark, were indicted last month in a sweeping 41-count racketeering case alleging they conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The indictment centered on a separate post-election call to Raffensperger in which Trump urged him to “find” a specific number of votes needed to win the state’s election.
Three co-defendants have already invoked their rights to a speedy trial, and the first set of trials could begin as soon as Oct. 23. A judge is slated to decide next week if the other defendants, including Trump, will face trial at a later date. Several reports have stated that one of the potential dates is March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday.
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