Georgia prosecutors want Trump’s co-defendant jailed for witness intimidation
The leader of Black Voices for Trump ‘poses a significant threat of intimidating witnesses’
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Your support makes all the difference.One of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in Georgia’s election interference case could return to jail after he repeatedly violated the terms of his release, according to prosecutors in Atlanta.
A filing from the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argues that Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, has “engaged in a pattern of intimidation” against his co-defendants and witnesses since he was released on bond in August.
Mr Floyd, like his co-defendants, was charged under the state’s anti-racketeering statute for allegedly joining a criminal enterprise to reverse Mr Trump’s loss in the state in the 2020 presidential election. He also is charged with conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings and influencing witnesses.
The terms of his release prohibited him from intimidating co-defendants and witnesses and from communicating “in any way, directly or indirectly, about the facts of the case” with any co-defendants or witnesses, except through his counsel.
Prosecutors say he has since “engaged in numerous intentional and flagrant violations of the conditions of release,” including multiple social media posts about plea deals for co-defendants Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell and posts about Georgia election officials who are witnesses in the case.
He also has repeatedly posted about an election worker who is a witness in the case and who has faced a wave of harassing messages and abuse after Mr Trump, Rudy Giuliani and others amplified false claims about her.
Mr Floyd’s actions “demonstrate that he poses a significant threat of intimidating witnesses and otherwise obstructing the administration of justice in the future, making him ineligible for bond,” according to prosecutors.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and he is the only co-defendant in the case who has spent time in jail on those charges.
After he surrendered to authorities in August, Mr Floyd was held inside the Fulton County jail for several days until his $100,000 consent bond order was approved by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.
The filing from Ms Willis’s office also follows the publication of filmed interviews between prosecutors and Ellis, Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, the three Trump-allied attorneys who pleaded guilty to crimes connected to Georgia’s election subversion case.
Ms Willis has sought a protective order that would bar parties in the case from leaking evidence. During a courtroom hearing on Wednesday, Judge McAfee indicated that he is likely to issue an order protecting the release of “sensitive materials” attached to the case.
Jonathan Miller, an attorney for co-defendant Misty Hampton, admitted during the hearing that she shared the proffer videos with a media outlet.
Her attorney claimed that the defendants who struck plea deals did so in public, and argued that hiding the proffers misleads the public.
Judge McAfee said he would establish a limited protective order, similar to one proposed by attorneys for co-defendant David Shafer and supported by all parties in the case – except one.
Lawyers for Mr Floyd were the only attorneys for the co-defendants who opposed the order.
The Independent has requested comment from attorneys for Mr Floyd.