Harrison Floyd, final Trump defendant in jail, given $100,000 bond
Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis alleged Floyd's lack of knowledge regarding the criminal justice system was the reason he failed to make bond arrangements before turning himself in.
Harrison Floyd has received a bond, joining the other co-defendants in the Georgia criminal indictment of former president Donald Trump.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee approved the $100,000 bond order on Tuesday, five days after Floyd turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, is the only one of the 19 suspects in the Fulton County election probe to serve jail time in connection to it.
Virginia-based attorney Chris Kachouroff submitted paperwork to represent Floyd in Georgia on Monday, claiming Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ office contacted him the next day to arrange the bond. He further asserted that the prosecutor “didn’t like the optics” of Floyd remaining behind bars, which is the only reason he received a bond.
“She was just letting him rot in there,” Kachouroff said, AJC reported. “I told Harrison, ‘This is ridiculous. She should have jumped in there and done the right thing.'”
However, Jeff DiSantis, a representative for Willis, dismissed Kachouroff’s claims, countering that Floyd had the chance to negotiate a consent bond in the same way as the other defendants charged in the indictment, yet waited until Tuesday to do so.
While all the other defendants, including Trump, turned themselves in with a pre-arranged bond, Floyd arrived Thursday without a lawyer. He was subsequently detained and booked like any other criminal defendant.
Floyd faces five felony counts involving the alleged harassment of Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman. According to the indictment, he conspired with co-defendants Stephen Lee and Trevian Kutti, who is also Black, to get Freeman to falsely admit she had taken part in fraud at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, where votes were tallied in the 2020 election.
Floyd appeared in court for the first time on Friday, where he represented himself and requested a public defender because he could not afford the expensive fees involved with a problematic racketeering case.
Judge Emily Richardson refused Floyd’s request for bail, saying he was a flight risk and posed a threat to commit other crimes if freed. She cited his February arrest in Maryland for allegedly assaulting an FBI agent attempting to serve him with a grand jury subpoena in connection with Trump’s federal election meddling case in Washington, D.C.
An audio of a conversation between Willis and Carlos J.R. Salvado, who represents Floyd in the Maryland criminal case, mentioned that the district attorney had dispatched a person to meet Floyd at the jail when he turned himself in. Willis said Floyd declined a consent bond at the time.
In the phone discussion, Willis said when Floyd arrived in Atlanta, he created a commotion in the jail’s lobby and essentially pleaded to be booked. She added that all the other defendants’ attorneys visited her office to set up bail before their clients turned themselves in.
Salvado appeared to concur with Willis that Floyd’s ignorance of the criminal justice system contributed to his predicament.
“You know what? I feel bad about it, and I’m gonna tell you the reason I feel bad is there’s 19 defendants on this indictment, and he is the only one held with no bond,” Willis said, AJC reported, “and I think it’s because he’s a layperson, and he doesn’t understand.”
A GiveSendGo donation fund for Floyd, now somewhat of a celebrity in conservative circles, had raised over $275,000 by late Tuesday afternoon — surpassing its goal of $200,000 — with contributions ranging from $5 to $5,000.
The fund’s description refers to Willis as a weak Democratic prosecutor only interested in boosting her political career. It also claims that Floyd’s treatment as a disabled Marine Corps veteran is a travesty.
“Harrison is innocent,” the site reads. “There is no victim here in this fake case being brought by Fani. Harrison shouldn’t have to post any bond whatsoever. After all, how can he be a flight risk when he voluntarily turned himself in?”
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