They all signed a certificate falsely declaring that then-President Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declared themselves to be “duly elected and qualified” electors of the state, even though Joe Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors had been certified. Eleven of them filed a motion Tuesday to quash their subpoenas, calling them “unreasonable and oppressive.” Also Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, agreed to submit any challenges to a subpoena in the investigation to either the state’s highest court or federal court in Georgia, according to a court filing. He had previously filed a motion in federal court in South Carolina trying to stop any subpoenas being issued to him there on behalf of the prosecutor in Georgia. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last year opened a criminal investigation into “attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia General Election.” At her request, a special judicial commission with subpoena power met in May. In court filings earlier this month, he alleged “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere.” Willis’ office declined to comment Tuesday on the motion to quash the subpoena. An attorney for Willis’ office said in a court filing Tuesday that each of the 16 people who signed the fake voter certificate received a letter saying they are targets of the investigation and required to testify before the grand jury. In their motion to quash the subpoenas, attorneys for 11 of the bogus voters said that between mid-April and late June, Willis’ office had told them they were considered witnesses, not subjects or targets of the investigation. For that reason, they had agreed to voluntary interviews with the investigative team, the motion states. Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer and another of the fake voters appeared for interviews in late April. On June 1st, grand jury summonses were sent to all 11 of these bogus voters. And on June 28, the district attorney’s office told their attorneys for the first time that their clients were considered targets rather than witnesses, the motion states. On December 14, 2020, when Georgia’s official Democratic electors met to certify the state’s electoral votes for Biden, the fake Republican electors also met to certify a list of electoral votes for Trump. They did so because a lawsuit challenging the election results was then pending, and if a judge found that Trump had indeed won their electoral roll it would be valid, the motion says. The district attorney’s office knew all of this and properly called them witnesses, prompting them to agree to voluntarily cooperate, the motion says. “The abrupt, unacceptable, and public elevation of the status of the eleven prospective electors unfairly transformed them from witnesses who voluntarily cooperated and were prepared to testify before the Grand Jury to their persecuting targets,” the motion states. As a result, their attorneys advised them to invoke their federal and state rights against self-incrimination, and they “reluctantly” accepted that advice, the motion states. Their lawyers claim the change in status from witnesses to targets was based on “an inappropriate desire to force them to publicly invoke their rights as, at best, a publicity stunt.” Therefore, they should be excused from appearing before the special grand jury, the motion states. The motion asks Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the special jury, to excuse the 11 voters from appearing before the panel. It also asks him to look into Willis’ actions “which indicate the inappropriate politicization of this investigative process.” And it’s asking him to approve a motion filed Friday by state Sen. Bert Jones that seeks to remove Willis and her office from the investigation. Jones, who is a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, has claimed the investigation is politically motivated because Willis is an active supporter of his Democratic opponent. McBurney on Tuesday set a hearing for Thursday on that proposal. Willis’ office said Jones’ allegations are without merit, and an attorney representing the office wrote in a filing Tuesday that Jones has not identified any actions that indicate a political motive.
