by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]
August 29, 2023
On Tuesday afternoon, the lone co-defendant in the 2020 presidential election interference case who had remained in Fulton County jail was a step closer to his release from custody.
Harrison William Floyd, director of Black Voices for Trump support group, negotiated a $100,000 bond with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and Fulton County Superior Court based on three criminal charges: racketeering and conspiracy, and influencing a witness and solicitation to false statements and writings. A bond order allows Floyd to post a $10,000 cash or property collateral ahead of a previously scheduled bond hearing on Thursday.
Floyd is one of 18 defendants facing felony charges in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s historic and sweeping case centered on charges of illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia and several other states.
The headline defendant, former Republican President Donald Trump is facing 13 felony counts including racketeering and conspiring to influence state officials to reverse his 2020 election loss and installing an illegitimate slate of electors in order to discredit Democratic President Joe Biden’s Georgia victory. Floyd, a former U.S. Marine and mixed martial arts fighter, is accused of pressuring Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely admit to committing voting fraud while counting absentee ballots at State Farm Arena following the Nov. 3, 2020 general election.
In a virtual court hearing on Friday, he told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson that he could not afford an attorney and could not risk putting his family in debt. Richardson at that time cited a federal criminal charge as a reason for not letting him bond out at the time.
Floyd was charged with misdemeanor simple assault on Feb. 23, while two FBI agents attempted to serve him a subpoena at his home related to the Department of Justice’s investigation into Trump’s and allies’ attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Floyd is accused of bumping his chest and jamming his finger into the face of an FBI investigator while screaming obscenities about them bothering him in his Maryland apartment, according to his criminal complaint.
During Friday’s hearing, Floyd told Richardson that he was cooperating with authorities in both cases, and that he arrived at the Fulton jail before Trump’s arrival.
“The charge is a simple misdemeanor m’am,” Floyd said last week. “I got on a plane. I voluntarily came here.”
In his LinkedIn profile, Floyd lists his occupation as an entrepreneur. His resume, which includes more than 15 years specializing in crisis management, government and political campaigns while working on Capitol Hill, a presidential campaign, and for the Marine Corps.
Floyd’s 18 co-defendants negotiated bond agreements with the district attorney’s office and superior court before turning themselves in. Trump’s bond amount was $200,000 and he posted $20,000, or 10% of that sum, within an hour of arriving at the jail on Thursday evening.
The next highest bond amount of $100,000 was for members of Trump’s inner circle that included former Department of Justice official Jeffery Clark and Trump personal and campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman. A bond of $75,000 or less would be set for the remaining defendants, such as former Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer and state senator Shawn Still.
Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and Twitter.
