Judge orders Lindsey Graham to testify against Donald Trump to grand jury

| 5:19 pm EDT July 11, 2022
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When Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis convinced a grand jury to subpoena Senator Lindsey Graham to testify in her criminal investigation into Donald Trump, Graham announced that he would fight the subpoena. At the time, we pointed out that grand jury subpoenas aren’t like congressional subpoenas. While the courts tend to process legal battles over congressional subpoenas at the speed of mud, they tend to process legal battles over grand jury subpoenas rather quickly.

Sure enough, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney is already ruling that Lindsey Graham must testify no later than August 2nd – which is just three weeks from now. Graham may try to appeal this to a higher court. But given the speed with which the courts tend to resolve these kinds of subpoenas, we won’t be surprised if Graham exhausts his appeals before the August 2nd deadline.

If Graham simply refuses to show up and testify, the judge overseeing the matter can hold him in contempt of court and begin assigning immediate daily financial penalties, which the judge can then severely escalate at his or her discretion. When Donald Trump was held in contempt of court in New York, he only lasted eleven days before caving and turning over the subpoenaed documents. When a Trump-allied real estate firm was then held in contempt of court, it only lasted four days before caving.

Lindsey Graham can not be required to testify against himself to a grand jury. He can only be required to testify against Donald Trump and everyone else involved. But if Graham does plead the fifth in response to any of the questions, it would tell DA Willis precisely what Graham is trying to hide about his own illegal actions. The bottom line: Graham isn’t just worming his way out of this. He can give up Trump, or he can face legal consequences of his own.