Georgia lawmakers appearing before a special judiciary committee in the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others who illegally interfered in the 2020 election have broad immunity but can be questioned about their conversations with people outside the legislature, he has ruled a judge. A former Georgia state lawmaker and lieutenant governor asked a judge to throw out subpoenas seeking their testimony before the special grand jury, citing legislative privilege and immunity. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the special jury, wrote in an order Wednesday that the couple must comply with the subpoenas, but set limits on what grand jurors can ask of them and others state legislators who are subpoenaed. The special court convened in May at the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who said in a letter to the county’s superior court judge that her team believes the 2020 general election is “subject to potential criminal disruption” and is considering to “any concerted efforts to illegally change the outcome of the 2020 election in this state.” In court filings this week seeking the testimony of several Trump allies and advisers, Willis wrote that there is evidence that testimony given before a December 2020 legislative committee hearing by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others “was part of of a coordinated multi-state plan. by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere.” Giuliani’s attorney declined to comment when reached Tuesday. The son of the former New York mayor said that day that his father was recovering from heart surgery. Former state Sen. William Ligon, who did not seek re-election in 2020, chaired that committee hearing on December 3, 2020, where Giuliani and others spoke. Attorneys Don Samuel and Amanda Clark Palmer, who have been hired as special assistant legislative counsel, argued on behalf of Ligon and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who serves as Senate president, that the subpoenas should be thrown out. The attorneys told the judge they would likely represent other state lawmakers who will be subpoenaed before the special grand jury. The Georgia Constitution says that no member of the General Assembly “shall be bound to answer to any other party for anything said in either house, or at any meeting of the committee of either house.” McBurney said this is important to allow lawmakers to speak freely with each other while conducting legitimate legislative business. As a result, McBurney wrote in his order, prosecutors and grand juries cannot question a lawmaker “about anything he said while participating in any session of the Legislature, whether on the floor or in subcommittee. This includes conversations and documents prepared by a legislator or legislative staff. Elected officials’ motives for actions taken during a legislative session are not subject to review by a grand jury, he wrote. Lawmakers also cannot be asked about direct communications with other lawmakers in preparation for any legislative session or the drafting of any legislation or official report, McBurney wrote. But the legislative privilege does not extend to communications with private individuals about matters related to the grand jury investigation, even if those communications were made in the performance of legislative duties, McBurney wrote. “If, as the District Attorney alleges, outsiders attempted to influence Georgia legislators and other elected state officials as part of a potentially illegal scheme to interfere with the lawful administration of our State’s election process, the grand jury should be position to investigate such activity,” McBurney’s order states. “Legislative privilege, designed to protect the legitimate – as in the legitimate – legislative process, should not be a shield that benefits outsiders or otherwise obscures from the view of the grand jury the full range of alleged attempts to subvert the elections in Georgia”. Such inquiries must, however, “remain limited to who and what, not why,” the order says. For example, the grand jury may not ask what a legislator thought about what an outside party said or what, if anything, the legislator decided to do based on that input. McBurney also denied a request by Ligon to delay his grand jury testimony until September to accommodate his attorney’s trial schedule. The judge said Ligon must be available to testify for two hours while the grand jury convenes on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Our Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
