Court puts on hold Graham’s testimony in Ga election inquiry.

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court on Sunday agreed to temporarily stay a lower court’s order requiring U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham to testify before a special grand jury investigating conspiracies to undo Donald’s defeat. Trump in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

A subpoena had ordered the South Carolina Republican to appear before the special grand jury on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May denied Graham’s request last Monday to quash his subpoena and on Friday denied his attempt to stay his decision while he appeals. Graham’s lawyers then appealed to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

On Sunday, a three-judge appeals court panel issued the order temporarily staying May’s order refusing to overturn the subpoena. The panel returned the case in May to decide whether the subpoena should be partially overturned or modified due to protections afforded to members of Congress by the US Constitution.

Once May decides that issue, the case will return to the 11th Circuit for further review, according to the appeals court’s order.

Representatives for Graham did not immediately respond to messages on Sunday seeking comment on the appeal decision. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis declined to comment.

Willis opened the investigation early last year, following a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that conversation, Trump suggested that Raffensperger might “find” the votes needed to undo his short loss in the state.

Willis and his team said they wanted to ask Graham about two phone calls they allegedly made to Raffensperger and his team shortly after the 2020 general election. During those calls, Graham asked to “review certain absentee ballots filed in Georgia to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” Willis wrote in a petition seeking to compel his testimony.

Graham also “referenced allegations of widespread voter fraud in Georgia’s November 2020 election consistent with public statements made by known Trump campaign affiliates,” she wrote.

During a hearing earlier this month on Graham’s motion to have his subpoena quashed, Willis’ team argued that Graham might be able to provide some insight into the extent of any coordinated effort to influence the results of the 2020 general election in Georgia.