The Fulton County grand jury's full report could still be bad news for Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, as it could "serve as a basis for federal charges," former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade told Newsweek on Saturday.
The report was released on Friday, over two years after originally convening to look into whether former President Donald Trump and his allies allegedly interfered with Georgia's electoral results. Their report was finalized on January 9 following a yearslong investigation led by Willis.
Last month, Trump and 18 others were charged with 41 total counts—including all facing one count in violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act that makes it a crime to participate in a "pattern of racketeering activity" or conspiring to do so. All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The nine-page report not only recommended charges against Graham, an ardent Trump supporter, but also against former Georgia U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn, current Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, and attorney Lin Wood.
The grand jury voted 13-7, 14-6 and 17-4 in favor of indicting Graham, Loeffler and Perdue, respectively, including one abstention in each of the votes for Graham and Loeffler. Graham's "no" votes were the highest among those recommended to be charged aside from the alternate slate of electors.
Meanwhile, it was thought by some legal analysts who previously told Newsweek that Graham was not indicted by Willis due to his political standing, constitutional barriers and potential trial testimony.
While speaking to MSNBC host Katie Phang on Saturday, McQuade was asked if Graham could be asked to testify in the RICO trials of Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.
"He may want to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination," McQuade said. "The fact that this special grand jury recommended that he be indicted, does indicate that he has some criminal exposure here. And so it could be that his lawyer requests immunity for him to testify. If that is not received, then he may refuse to testify and then, when you've got these two different cases pending, the federal case and the state case, you have to worry about, even if Fani Willis isn't going to charge you there's a possibility he'd be charged federally."
She continued: "Because of that exposure, it may be that some of these witnesses demand immunity before they agreed to testify and waive their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination."
In a comment to Newsweek, McQuade also said, "We now know that the special grand jury in Georgia recommended charging him. We don't know all of the information upon which that recommendation was based, but that same information can serve as a basis for federal charges. The fact that district attorney Fani Willis declined to charge Graham suggests that there may be some good reasons not to charge, such as sufficiency of the evidence, speech, or debate, privilege, or cooperation."
However, law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis does not think Graham will face federal charges telling Newsweek on Saturday that he doesn't "see any evidence of obvious criminal wrongdoing in the public record."
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg also told Newsweek on Saturday, "I would be surprised if Lindsey Graham is ever charged in the election interference cases. Unlike Trump, his call to Georgia officials was not recorded, so it's a he said-he said situation. He may be subpoenaed to testify as a witness, but I think he's out of the woods as a defendant."
While speaking about the grand jury's report on Friday, Graham told reporters, "We're opening up Pandora's Box here. Fulton County is one of the most liberal jurisdictions in the country. I fear this will spread. That next election, Democrats may be on the other side of this."
Newsweek has also reached out to numerous legal analysts for comment via email and social media.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Anna Commander is a Newsweek Editor and writer based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on crime, weather and breaking ... Read more
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