Grand jury recommended charges against Graham, Perdue, Loeffler in Georgia case on 2020 election

A special grand jury in Georgia recommended criminally charging Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, according to a final report released Friday.

None of the three ended up facing criminal charges in the Georgia criminal case that accuses former President Donald Trump and 18 others of operating as a “criminal organization” as they sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in one of the nation’s top battleground states.

The final grand jury report said the special grand jury recommended that the three Republicans face criminal charges over the “national effort to overturn the 2020 election.” Seven of the 21 jurors opposed the charge against Graham, R-S.C., six opposed it against Loeffler, and four opposed the charge against Perdue. Loeffler and Perdue lost their Senate seats in Georgia in the aftermath of the contested election.

Perdue faced a separate recommendation for a criminal charge that for “persistent, repeated communications directed to multiple Georgia officials and employees,” the report said. Only one juror voted against that charge.

Others listed in the final report, like Trump and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, were charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last month in a case that focuses on the former president’s efforts to overturn presidential election results in Georgia. Those indictments center on the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, known as RICO.

Representatives for Graham, Perdue and Loeffler could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

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(CQ-Roll Call’s Michael Macagnone contributed to this report.

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