From CNBC: Judge denies Sen. Lindsey Graham bid to quash subpoena in Trump Georgia election probe, but puts limit on questions

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A federal judge on Thursday denied Sen. Lindsey Graham’s latest effort to fully quash a subpoena for his testimony before a special grand jury in Georgia as part of its probe into possible criminal election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in 2020.

But the judge also limited the scope of the subpoena by ordering that Graham, a South Carolina Republican and close Trump ally, cannot be asked about his “investigatory fact-finding on telephone calls to Georgia election officials” during his testimony.

She was referring to phone calls Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after the November 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden. Graham’s lawyers have argued that those calls were “quintessentially legislative factfinding” by a sitting U.S. senator, and as such are protected by the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.

That off-limits topic includes how the information he gathered “related to his decision to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the judge ruled.

“The Court finds that this area of inquiry falls under the protection of the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits questions on legislative activity,” Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in Thursday’s order in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

But May rejected Graham’s other arguments to either throw out the subpoena or sharply limit the questions that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office can ask him.

“As to the other categories, the Court finds that they are not legislative, and the Speech or Debate Clause does not apply to them,” May wrote.

- ArtI.S6.C1.3 Speech and Debate Clause and Members of Congress.

- Understanding the Speech or Debate Clause.

- Speech or Debate Clause.