Sen. Lindsey Graham asks federal judge to quash subpoena from Georgia grand jury probing Trump election meddling

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks during a news conference in response to President Joe Bidens decision to pull all American troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Lindsey Graham has asked a federal judge to quash a subpoena for his testimony issued by a Georgia grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in the 2020 election by former President Donald Trump.

Graham moved to the U.S. District Court in South Carolina after a judge in Atlanta signed a subpoena for him.

Graham will have to testify before the grand jury on August 2nd. Evidence related to efforts by Trump and others to get Georgia officials to overturn the election of Biden is being sought by that jury.

In the 13-page motion asking a federal court judge to quash the subpoena, Graham's lawyers wrote that "sovereign immunity prevents enforcement of the state court process on him as a federal officer."

The attorneys argued that there were no extraordinary circumstances that would make him testify.

Graham stated that he was trying to do his job. If we were to allow county prosecutors to call every member of the Senate based on an investigation they think is good for the country, we would be opening the door to a lot of bad things.

Graham made at least two calls to the Georgia Secretary of State's office in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump, according to the subpoena.

Graham has been told by the Fulton County District Attorney that he is not a subject or target of the investigation. The subpoenas were requested for Graham and others.

Graham's lawyers argued that the District Attorney's attempts to compel Graham to appear are an abuse of process. Her attempts to force Senator Graham to travel to Georgia for seven weeks during the middle of the Senate session is a gross overreach.

CNBC asked for comment from the lawyers and the office of the district attorney.

Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer who led Trump's legal efforts to overturn Biden's election win, was subpoenaed by the same grand jury that has subpoenaed Graham.

Two days before Biden's victory was due to be certified by Congress, Trump made a phone call to Raffensperger.

Trump told Raffensperger to get enough votes to overturn Biden's win.

Trump said he wanted to find 11,780 votes.

In order to get rid of Biden's margin of victory in the Electoral College, Trump's team was trying to flip his losses in the popular vote in Georgia and several other swing states.