Graham’s call with Georgia’s secretary of State will be investigated: report

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) post-election phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) will be probed as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s probe into whether former President Trump broke laws by trying to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, The Washington Post reported.

A person familiar with the probe told the newspaper that the call would be “looked at,” but cautioned that little is known about the call or whether it violated any laws.

Kevin Bishop, a spokesperson for Graham, told The Hill in statement “it’s a ridiculous accusation that will be seen as being ridiculous.”

“Senator Graham was asking about how the signature verification process worked. He never asked the Secretary of State to disqualify a ballot cast by anyone,” Bishop said. “The timing on this is also quite curious.  It seems to be a less than transparent effort to marginalize anyone who helps President Trump.”  

A spokesperson for Willis told the Post that the office is investigating all attempts to improperly influence the administration of the election.

Raffensperger told the Post in November that Graham asked if he had authority to toss out ballots in counties with high rates of non-matching signatures. Raffensperger also said that Graham questioned if poll workers had accepted ballots with non-matching signatures.

Graham, a staunch ally of Trump, later denied pressuring Raffensperger to do anything illegal, and insisted that he wanted to learn more about the process.

Willis announced the probe on Wednesday, and instructed state officials to retain records of Trump’s Jan. 2 call with Raffensperger, in which the then-president told Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to overturn President Biden’s win in Georgia.

The announcement came two days after Raffensperger’s office announced that it opened a separate probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Biden narrowly won Georgia in the election, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992. The state was often a target for Trump and his allies after the election when disputing the results.

Trump is facing an impeachment trial over a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that disrupted the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.