A federal choose on Thursday denied Sen. Lindsey Graham’s newest effort to totally quash a subpoena for his testimony earlier than a particular grand jury in Georgia as a part of its probe into potential felony election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in 2020.

However the choose additionally restricted the scope of the subpoena by ordering that Graham, a South Carolina Republican and shut Trump ally, can’t be requested about his “investigatory fact-finding on phone calls to Georgia election officers” throughout his testimony.

She was referring to cellphone calls Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his workers within the weeks after the November 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden. Graham’s attorneys have argued that these calls have been “quintessentially legislative factfinding” by a sitting U.S. senator, and as such are protected by the speech and debate clause of the Structure.

That off-limits subject consists of how the knowledge he gathered “associated to his choice to certify the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election,” the choose dominated.

“The Courtroom finds that this space of inquiry falls below the safety of the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits questions on legislative exercise,” Choose Leigh Martin Might wrote in Thursday’s order in U.S. District Courtroom in Atlanta.

However Might rejected Graham’s different arguments to both throw out the subpoena or sharply restrict the questions that Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis’ workplace can ask him.

“As to the opposite classes, the Courtroom finds that they don’t seem to be legislative, and the Speech or Debate Clause doesn’t apply to them,” Might wrote.

“As such, Senator Graham could also be questioned about any alleged efforts to encourage Secretary Raffensperger or others to throw out ballots or in any other case alter Georgia’s election practices and procedures,” the choose ordered.

“Likewise, the grand jury might inquire into Senator Graham’s alleged communications and coordination with the Trump Marketing campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia, in addition to into Senator Graham’s public statements associated to Georgia’s 2020 elections,” Might wrote.

Graham’s problem now goes again to the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the place the senator filed an attraction after a earlier ruling from Choose Might denying his bid to quash the subpoena.

“We’re happy that the district courtroom acknowledged that Senator Graham’s testimony is protected by the Speech or Debate Clause,” Graham’s workplace mentioned in a press release later Thursday. “He’ll proceed to defend the institutional pursuits of the Senate and the Structure earlier than the Eleventh Circuit.”

The order for Graham’s testimony in Georgia’s probe got here someday after John Eastman, a pro-Trump lawyer who labored to overturn Biden’s presidential victory, appeared earlier than the grand jury and refused to reply questions.

Eastman invoked his Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination, in addition to protections below attorney-client privilege, in refusing to reply at the very least some questions he was requested earlier than the grand jury, his attorneys mentioned.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former private lawyer who was a number one voice difficult the 2020 election outcomes, additionally lately testified earlier than the grand jury.