The efforts by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to avoid testifying in Georgia about Donald Trump's unsuccessful coup attempt were thoroughly debunked in a Washington Post op-ed written by one of America's foremost constitutional law experts and two other experts.
The op-ed was written by Laurence Tribe, who taught constitutional law at Harvard for over a half century and has argued three-dozen cases before the Supreme Court along with former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut, and Obama White House ethics czar and Judiciary Committee counsel during Trump's first impeachment Norm Eisen.
The three wrote about Graham being subpoenaed by a Fulton County grand jury in Georgia convened by District Attorney Fani Willis, which his lawyers say is a "fishing expedition."
"We say it’s anything but," they wrote. "From the perspective of a constitutional scholar, a criminal defense lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, the subpoena poses a big question for our democracy: Will the rule of law prevail — or are there some people who are just too important to ask to cooperate with a lawful state investigation into whether outsiders tried to use illegal means to overturn the results in a presidential election?"
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said Graham called in an effort to throw out votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the Peach State.
"Graham has contested that account. Which interpretation reflects the truth? That’s for the Georgia grand jury to determine, by hearing all relevant testimony. The rule of law requires that those responsible for attacks on our nation’s democracy be held to account," they wrote. "Graham’s appearance before the grand jury is important not only to understanding the full extent of what happened in the alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. It also matters to a core tenet of our constitutional democracy. No one, including a senator or a president, is above the law."
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