Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., walks down the steps of the Capitol on Thursday, April 28, 2022.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A Georgia special grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump for possible criminal interference in that state’s 2020 election issued a subpoena on Tuesday for Rep. Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican, according to court records.
The same grand jury in Atlanta was previously known to have subpoenaed other Trump allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., who asked a federal judge in his home state to overturn that request.
On Monday, Hice’s attorney, Loree Anne Paradise, filed a notice saying she was removing issues with the Georgia state court’s subpoena in the U.S. District Court for Georgia. The action lays the groundwork for Hice to likely challenge the subpoena, much like Graham is already doing.
Hice backed Trump in his effort to void Georgia’s 2020 election, which President Joe Biden won. On the heels of the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill, in which a horde of Trump supporters filled the halls of Congress, Hice voted against certifying Biden’s victory.
In May, Hice lost a primary race in which he sought to replace Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as their party’s nominee for the post in this fall’s general election.
Raffensperger in January 2021 resisted a direct request from Trump to help him “find” enough votes in Georgia to reverse Biden’s victory in the state.
Hice was subpoenaed by the grand jury in Fulton County Court on June 29, according to this notice from Paradise.
It’s unclear why he waited until Monday for his attorney Paradise to withdraw the subpoena in federal court.
CNBC has asked Paradise for comment.