Giuliani, Graham, Trump associates subpoenaed
ATLANTA — The Fulton County special grand jury investigating potential criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections has subpoenaed key members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to copies obtained by The Atlanta Journal-constitution.
In addition to Giuliani, among those being summoned are John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis, all of whom advised Trump on strategies for overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s wins in Georgia and other swing states.
The grand jury also subpoenaed South Carolina U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s top allies in the U.S. Senate, and attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason.
The subpoenas, were filed July 5 and signed off by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert Mcburney, who is overseeing the special grand jury. Unlike subpoenas issued to Georgians, the summons were required to receive Mcburney’s blessing since they are for people who reside outside the state.
The 23-person special grand jury has heard testimony in recent weeks from a parade of witnesses, including some who had direct contact with Trump and his associates. But Tuesday’s subpoenas are the closest jurors have gotten to the inner circle of the former president.
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, testified before Georgia legislators on three separate occasions in late 2020. His comments, which have become a major interest to the special grand jury, were filled with sensationalist claims and conspiracy theories about tens of thousands of people voting illegally and rigged voting machines that were quickly debunked by state authorities or rejected in the courts. He was suspended from practicing law in New York in June 2021 in part because of his testimony in Georgia.
Eastman, a former law professor, was a key architect of the plan to press Vice President Mike Pence to reject the official Democratic electors in Georgia and other swing states and opt for an alternative slate of GOP electors. A federal judge in March argued that “it is more likely than not that President Trump and Dr. Eastman dishonestly conspired to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”
Eastman testified at a Georgia legislative hearing after the election, during which he argued that there was “more than enough” evidence of fraud and improper conduct to warrant lawmakers picking an alternative slate of presidential electors.
“I don’t think it’s just your authority to do that,” Eastman said, “but, quite frankly, I think you have a duty to do that to protect the integrity of the election here in Georgia.”
Mitchell, a conservative lawyer based in Washington, D.C., advised Trump on the infamous Jan. 2, 2021, call that the Republican placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that conversation, in which Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, Mitchell aided Trump as he made unsubstantiated claims about Georgia’s elections.