Georgia grand jury recommended SC’s Lindsey Graham face charges in 2020 election probe
A special grand jury in Georgia, which investigated efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state, recommended U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina face charges in the probe, according to a report released Friday.
However, Graham was never indicted.
Former President Donald Trump and 18 others were indicted last month for efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election result. This is the fourth criminal case Trump faces as he runs in the 2024 presidential election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately decided who to bring forward for charges.
According the special grand jury’s report, the panel voted 13 to 7, with one abstention, to recommend Graham face charges. However, the charges Graham could have faced were not specifically listed.
Even though Graham fought against a grand jury subpoena, he eventually testified in front of the panel investigating election interference in the state.
Graham, a Trump ally, made two phone calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about mail-in ballots in the state after the election asking whether certain ballots could be discounted by the state, according to Raffensperger.
On Friday, Graham told reporters in Westminster he “never asked ballots to be set aside” and he was surprised the special grand jury recommended he be charged.
“I made it pretty clear my phone call was to find out what I should be doing as a United States senator,” Graham told reporters in Westminster, S.C. “I never suggested anybody should set aside the election. I never said go find votes, I never said anything other than trying to find out how the mail-in ballot system worked.”
Graham, who was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, said he made the call to determine whether to hold a hearing on the election and whether to vote to certify the election.
He eventually voted to certify the election at a joint meeting of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Graham told reporters last month he had no regrets about making the phone calls.
“No, I’m glad I made them. I feel like I made an informed decision,” Graham said.
South Carolina’s senior senator said he did not see widespread fraud in the election.
Graham told reporters last month he was “well treated, and fairly treated” when he was in the process of being subpoenaed, but his part was done.
The grand jury also recommended charges for former Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and Lin Wood, who ran in 2021 for S.C. GOP chairman but lost to Drew McKissick.
McClatchy DC Reporter Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 10:50 AM.
