Nice try Lindsey Graham

| 10:00 pm EDT July 8, 2022
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What is done is the dark always comes to light. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s also true. Ask Lindsey Graham. He is livid because he has been subpoenaed to testify in Georgia about his phone calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. This could have been avoided had Lindsey Graham focused on his job instead of on an outgoing failed president. He made the choice, and it has now come back to bite him in the ass-at least partially.

The Hill reported that Republican strategists believe Graham’s actions won’t hurt him one bit because his home state of South Carolina loves Donald Trump. In turn, that means they love Graham. Why is anyone’s guess. Graham went from calling Trump “dangerous” in 2016 to becoming his chief defender. Of course, Graham, like many politicians, saw an opportunity to take advantage of another’s popularity to help his own. James Wallner, a former Senate Republican aide who now teaches about Congress and American constitutional law, said: “It’s not like he’s going to get punished at the polls.” He is correct; however, we don’t yet know the legal ramifications of Graham’s actions.

DA Fani Willis has made it clear that she has no qualms about moving the court to compel Graham’s testimony. After all, the Fulton County Superior Court issued the subpoena, and the court won’t back down because Graham doesn’t want to comply. The law doesn’t work that way. A subpoena is a sacred part of a court’s power, and only a higher court can take away that power. It is likely that Graham’s attorneys will take this to the Georgia Supreme Court, if necessary, though the fight will likely end there. Graham’s arguments will fall flat.

According to the Hill, Graham’s attorneys claimed: “As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Graham was well within his rights to discuss with state officials the processes and procedures around administering elections. Should it stand, the subpoena issued today would erode the constitutional balance of power and the ability of a member of Congress to do their job.” Nice try. It is no congressperson’s job to tell a state how to run its elections. Indeed, Republicans are the ones who want the federal government out of states’ voting procedures. Once again, Republicans are talking out of both sides of their mouths. Pardon yet another cliché, but they cannot have their cake and eat it too.

Graham asked Raffensperger to throw votes out. That request has absolutely nothing to do with his job on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ray Zaccaro, Democratic strategist and former senate aide said: “Lindsey Graham does not represent the state of Georgia. Lindsey Graham had no official legislative role.” In other words, Lindsey Graham had no business trying to interfere in an election in a state that he does not even represent. To try to make this into something else now is disingenuous at least and downright dishonest at best. If Graham did nothing wrong, he should honor the subpoena and testify. Unfortunately, everything he did was wrong, and he must now stand behind his actions.