A judge will hear arguments Tuesday on the Fulton County district attorney’s request to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd, one of former President Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case, over social media posts that prosecutors said are “intentional and flagrant violations” of his bond conditions.
In a motion last week to revoke Floyd’s bond, District Attorney Fani Willis’ office cited Floyd’s posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, targeting Georgia elections officials such as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gabriel Sterling as well as election worker Ruby Freeman.
“Since November 1, 2023, the Defendant has publicly tweeted multiple times from the Twitter account @hw_floyd in an effort to intimidate codefendants and witnesses, to communicate directly and indirectly with codefendants and witnesses, and to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” Willis wrote in the filing.
“As set forth above, since his release from custody, the Defendant has engaged in a pattern of intimidation toward known codefendants and witnesses, direct and indirect communication about the facts of this case to known codefendants and witnesses, and obstruction of the administration of justice in direct violation of this Court’s order,” she continued.
Floyd’s attorneys pushed back in a filing Monday, denying that his social media posts violated his bond order and said the motion is a “retaliatory measure” against him.
“In exercising his First Amendment rights, Mr. Floyd neither threatened or intimidated anyone and he certainly did not communicate with a witness or co-defendant directly or indirectly. He has no idea who the State’s witnesses even are at this point,” they wrote in the filing. “If this truly were an issue, the State had every opportunity to notify Mr. Floyd or his counsel that his posts on social media were a problem.”
Floyd’s attorneys said he was in plea negotiations just “weeks ago” and that Willis’ office did not mention the social media posts referenced in the motion to revoke his bond.
“All of Mr. Floyd’s posts constitute political speech, the touchstone of First Amendment guarantees,” they wrote. “None of them contain any threat to use force that would make a reasonable person believe the posts were somehow intimidating or unlawful.”
In response to allegations that his tweets about Freeman were an effort to intimidate her, Floyd’s attorneys also argued that Freeman’s testimony is actually helpful for his case.
“It is Mr. Floyd’s position that Ms. Freeman is a valuable defense witness — not a witness favorable to the prosecution. There is not a chance Mr. Floyd would want to intimidate Ms. Freeman,” they wrote.
Floyd’s attorneys also demanded prosecutors show evidence that Freeman has suffered harm as a result of their client’s posts and asked Judge Scott McAfee to reject the motion or include language on restricting social media statements, like former President Donald Trump’s bond order does.
Prosecutors in the Georgia election interference case have accused Floyd of involvement in a scheme to pressure Freeman to make false statements. Trump and his allies had falsely accused Freeman of fraud in the 2020 election.
Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, was the only defendant in the case who was held in jail after surrendering in August. All of the other defendants, including Trump, were released on bond after they were booked. Floyd was informed during his initial court appearance that he’d remain at the Fulton County Jail because he was considered a potential flight risk.
Floyd negotiated a bond days later. McAfee set Floyd’s bond at $100,000 — with $40,000 on racketeering charges and $30,000 each on a charge of influencing witnesses and a charge of conspiring to commit solicitation of false statements and writings.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
