Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives at his apartment building after the suspension of his law license in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., June 24, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
A Georgia grand jury on Tuesday issued subpoenas demanding testimony from Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and the attorney Rudy Giuliani as part of an investigation of possible criminal interference in that state’s 2020 election by former President Donald Trump.
Also subpoenaed by the special grand jury in Fulton County were other members of Trump’s legal team in addition to Giuliani.
The subpoenas were signed off on by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special grand jury, and who is required to authorize subpoenas issued to non-residents of Georgia.
The subpoenas were first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
CNBC has requested comment on the report from Graham, who was a close ally of Trump.
Fulton County’s top prosecutor already was known to be eyeing a November 2020 phone call Graham had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the election in that state, which was won by President Joe Biden.
The subpoena issued to Graham said he made at least two calls to Raffensperger and his staff about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Giuliani, in addition to being Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, led the Trump campaign’s legal effort to overturn Biden’s popular vote victories in swing states that included Georgia, with an eye toward reversing his Electoral College win.
A copy of the subpoena to Giuliani notes that he appeared before the Georgia state Senate on Dec. 3, 2020, and provided testimony, witnesses and documentary evidence “purporting to demonstrate the existence of election fraud in multiple Georgia counties.”
Robert Costello, an attorney representing Giuliani, told CNBC “We don’t know anything about a subpoena.”
“We have not received any subpoena,” Costello said.
Asked how he and Giuliani would respond to such a subpoena, Costello replied: “We’ll decide that if and when it comes to pass.”
The other Trump-allied lawyers who were issued subpoenas were John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesbro and Jenna Ellis. Also issued a subpoena was the podcast host Jacki Pick Deason, who is also an attorney.
The grand jury was impaneled in Atlanta in early May at the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing the investigation. The grand jury began hearing testimony in early June, after Georgia’s primary elections.
Willis, in seeking the formation of the grand jury, told a judge in January that she had received information indicating a reasonable probability” that Georgia’s election “was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”
Willis said that information included reports that people “associated with these disruptions” contacted Raffensperger, Georgia’s attorney general, and the U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
The U.S. Attorney, Byung “BJay” Pak, abruptly resigned on Jan. 4, 2021, in a surprise move.
Two days earlier, Trump in a phone call that occurred while he was still president, urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to overturn Biden’s win.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensperger.
That call occurred four days before the U.S. Congress began meeting in a joint session to confirm the Electoral College victory of Biden.
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