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Should provide information in front of a special jury: Rudy Guilliani, here at the side of the then US President Donald Trump at a performance in New Jersey in August 2020
Photo: Sarah Silbiger / REUTERS
Confidants of former US President Donald Trump have to testify in court: A special jury in the US state of Georgia has summoned Senator Lindsey Graham and Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The court is investigating allegations that Trump tried to manipulate the 2020 election results.
Georgia, a "swing state," was won by a narrow majority of just over 11,000 votes by Joe Biden, the overall election winner.
A judge also ordered testimony from other Trump confidants: Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell and Doug Deason, who are also part of the former president's legal team.
The subpoenas were filed Tuesday and signed by Robert McBurney, Justice of Fulton Superior Court, who oversaw the special jury.
The requests for statements by the US media were initially unanswered by those affected.
Evidence of attempted vote rigging
The special jury was set up in May.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested the special jury in January in part because she has the power to facilitate such subpoenas and compel testimony.
The investigation was launched after Trump, in a Jan. 2, 2021 phone call, pressured the Secretary of State for Georgia to annul the state's election results over unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.
In the call, Trump urged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to "find" enough votes to overturn his defeat in Georgia by Democrat Joe Biden.
»I only want to find 11,780 votes«
The transcript of the phone call quotes Trump as saying to Raffensperger, "I just want to find 11,780 votes," which is the number Trump needed to win in Georgia.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in that call.
Legal experts say Trump's phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to voter fraud, criminal solicitation of voter fraud, and willful interference with voting duties.
Separately, the vice chairman of the congressional committee investigating last year's attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters said he could submit multiple requests to the Justice Department to prosecute the former president.
ktz/Reuters
