‘God help us all’: Sen. Graham addresses grand jury report recommending indictment

WESTMINSTER, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - During an event in the Upstate on Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham addressed a report that shows a special grand jury recommended charges against him in the Georgia election probe.

The grand jury report says the indictment recommendation against Graham was “with respect to the national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, focused on efforts in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said during calls with Graham in the weeks after the election, the senator asked whether he had the power to reject some absentee ballots, which he interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legal votes.

In a petition to subpoena Graham in the election probe, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote that during Graham’s calls, he asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.”

Graham denies election interference during the calls. While in Westminster for the South Carolina Apple Fest rotary luncheon said he was “totally surprised” by the report and called it an effort to “weaponize the law.”

“I thought I made it pretty clear that my phone call was to find out what I should be doing as a senator,” Graham said. “I never suggested anybody set aside the election. I never said, ‘go find votes.’ I never said anything other than trying to find out how the mail-in ballot system works and I was really confused and I still am, quite frankly.”

Willis said during the call, Graham also “made reference to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign,” and she believed he could provide insight into the possibility of a coordinated effort to influence the outcome of the election.

“If it ever becomes impossible or politically dangerous or legally dangerous for a United States senator to call up people to find out how the election was run, God help us all,” Graham said Friday.

He is one of 39 people named in the document, 18 of whom were charged including former President Donald Trump. Graham said he supports Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and believes he will win the Republican nomination.

READ MORE: Georgia special grand jury recommended charges against Sen. Graham, others

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