A Georgia judge wouldn’t revoke bond on Tuesday to put Donald Trump’s ally Harrison Floyd in jail, in the broad case in that state over Trump’s alleged election subversion scheme.
The judge, Scott McAfee, did call for changes to the bond order to make clearer what constitutes interfering with witnesses and other defendants by Floyd.
Floyd led Black Voices for Trump and is one of 19 people indicted in the Georgia elections case, along with Trump himself. Floyd faces charges under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law and two potential felony charges for attempting to influence witness Ruby Freeman to lie about committing election fraud.
Freeman was an election worker and has faced harassment and safety concerns since the 2020 election. She has testified about her experience to Congress and filed lawsuits over her treatment.
The attempt to revoke bond for Floyd stemmed from social media posts he made about the case, including about other defendants and witnesses. His bond order prohibits him from intimidating witnesses or defendants and from communicating either directly or indirectly with witnesses and defendants.
His posts on X, formerly Twitter, talk about Freeman and others in the case. He shared multimedia clips of Freeman to try to defend himself online. “Does this sound like Ruby Freeman is being PRESSURED?” he wrote alongside an audio clip.
He’s also posted about Jenna Ellis, a Trump ally who pleaded guilty to one charge in the Fulton county case and is now aiding prosecutors. Ellis’s lawyer said his post about her, where he called Ellis a “whole mess” and accused her of “stealing people’s hard-earned money” for her legal defense, was meant to intimidate her. He also posted about the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, saying Raffensperger “needs to call his lawyer”
The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, argued in court herself on Tuesday, asking the judge to revoke Floyd’s bond to show that “there are real consequences for allowing defendants to intimidate witnesses”.
Floyd has also tweeted a lot of criticism of Willis and the case, often referring to it as a “fraud”.
Testimony on Tuesday revolved around how social media posts work and can lead to harassment, like what a person means when they mention or “@” another account. Floyd’s attorneys argued that his posts online weren’t direct communication with witnesses or other defendants. Willis and her team attempted to show how Floyd’s tweets led to further harassment of the people mentioned and were a violation of his bond order.
Floyd’s defense called the attempt to revoke his bond “retaliatory” because he turned down a plea offer and had been exercising his first amendment rights by commenting on the case. He “neither threatened or intimidated anyone and he certainly did not communicate with a witness or co-defendant directly or indirectly” and doesn’t know who the witnesses even are in the case, his attorneys wrote.
McAfee said it seemed Floyd had violated some parts of the bond order, though not enough to revoke his bond. It’s clear, McAfee said, that Floyd is “boldly exploring” where the line is with his posts and trying to “defend his case in a very public way”. He said the order didn’t account for the “nuances” of social media, so it should be amended to make clearer what kinds of behavior aren’t allowed and would require revoking bond.
Floyd has already spent time in jail over this case. When he turned himself in for the charges, he was held in Fulton county jail for six days until bond was set.
This case and the other high-profile proceedings involving Trump have struggled with how to protect witnesses, attorneys and judges from harassment brought on by Trump’s most zealous followers. Trump has faced gag orders in Washington DC and New York, though the extent of the gag order in DC could be scaled back.
