Georgia judge orders bond modification for Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd

ATLANTA - Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee decided not to revoke bond for Harrison Floyd during today's hearing.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appeared in court for the state. During the hearing, the assistant chief investigator, Michael Hill, was called by the state to discuss the content of multiple posts that were made to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) by Floyd.

He was followed by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's chief operation officer, Gabriel Sterling, and the attorney for election worker Ruby Freeman, Von DuBose.

Willis says that the posts were clearly threatening to both Sterling and Freeman.

However, the lawyer for Floyd says that the posts weren't intimidating and tagging someone on social media was not a violation of the order not to talk to any witnesses or other defendants about the case because it didn't mean that they were aware of the posts.

Judge McAfee took several minutes to consider what he heard before returning to the courtroom. McAfee pointed out that it is a defendant's right to criticize the case against him or her but that it is not permissable to intimidate witnesses and even Floyd's lawyer admitted that he was close to crossing the line. Although the state claimed that Freeman was in fear after learning about posts made by Floyd about her, the judge said he didn't see any explicit threats against Freeman.

McAfee told both sides that the bond needs to be modified to specify what can and can not be said specifically on social media. Initially, both parties were told to work on the modifications outside of court. However, after Willis objected to leaving court without Floyd being given clear instructions and signing some sort of agreement, the judge told both sides to find a room and work out the details immediately.

What does Harrison Floyd's new bond agreement entail?

After returning to the courtroom, Judge McAfee considered both sides' requested modifications to Harrison's bond order.

In short, prosecutors asked that Harrison be barred from tagging, direct messaging, emailing, texting or calling his co-defendants, witnesses in the case and two unindicted co-conspirators.

"I certainly don't want to be back here in two weeks because it ‘was unclear,'" Willis told the judge. "Quite frankly, it really is in the defendant's best interest to shut his mouth about this case, because it can and will be used against him."

The judge clarified that though former President Donald Trump is a co-defendant, Harrison is free to talk about him and promote him as it pertains to the 2024 Presidential Election. He is also free to make criticisms online and publicly proclaim his innocence without mentioning his co-defendants, witnesses in the case and the two unindicted co-conspirators.

Before adjourning, Willis made sure Harrison would be required to delete previous posts he made mentioning his co-defendants.

"I'm happy to sign this today," the judge said. "And I would be happy to entertain a second modification after we've had time to digest this and had time to consider [it]."

FOX 5 is working to receive a copy of the modified bond order.

ORIGINAL STORY

A judge in Atlanta is hearing arguments Tuesday on a request to revoke the bond of one of former President Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week filed a motion asking county Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd. She wrote in her motion that Floyd has been attempting to intimidate and contact likely witnesses and his co-defendants in violation of the terms of his release.

Floyd’s attorneys wrote in a court filing that Willis’ allegations are without merit and that the motion is a "retaliatory measure" against their client. Floyd "neither threatened or intimidated anyone and certainly did not communicate with a witness or co-defendant directly or indirectly," they wrote.

McAfee set a hearing on Willis’ motion for Tuesday afternoon.

The charges against Floyd relate to allegations of harassment toward Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker who had been falsely accused of election fraud by Trump and his supporters. Floyd took part in a Jan. 4, 2021, conversation in which Freeman was told she "needed protection" and was pressured to lie and say she had participated in election fraud, the indictment says.

Floyd, who was a leader in the organization Black Voices for Trump, was one of 18 people charged along with Trump in a sprawling indictment in August. The indictment accuses them all of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to keep the Republican incumbent in power even after he lost the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Four defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching a deal with prosecutors that includes a promise to testify in any trials in the case. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set, but Willis last week asked McAfee to set it for Aug. 5, 2024.

Floyd was the only defendant in the case who spent time in jail after his indictment because he’s the only one who didn’t have a lawyer reach an agreement on bond conditions before he turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail. The conditions of his release include not communicating directly or indirectly about the facts of the case with any of his co-defendants or any known witnesses.

Harrison Floyd (Fulton County Sheriffs Office)

In her motion to revoke Floyd’s bond, Willis cited numerous posts Floyd had made on social media in the previous weeks. They included repeated attacks on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and numerous mentions of Freeman, both likely witnesses in the case. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he also accused attorney Jenna Ellis, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty last month, of lying.

Willis called these and other posts "intentional and flagrant violations" of his bond conditions.

Floyd’s attorneys noted that while Trump’s bond order specifically mentions the use of social media as part of his bond conditions, Floyd’s does not. They included examples of social media posts that Trump made about his White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a co-defendant, and about attorney Sidney Powell, who pleaded guilty in the case.

"A review of President Trump’s social media posts make the decision to go after Harrison Floyd hard to justify," they wrote.

They argue that attempting to "indirectly communicate" with anyone by tagging them on social media is analogous to shouting to someone across a crowded stadium. They also argued that Floyd wouldn’t attack Freeman because he views her as a favorable witness for his defense.

They said that Floyd’s posts are political speech protected by the First Amendment and that Willis is retaliating against him for rejecting a plea offer and subpoenaing Fulton County election records, among other things.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.