Trump ally Harrison Floyd is the only co-defendant forced to remain in jail after Georgia judge refused to issue bond over ‘risk to commit additional felonies and flee the jurisdiction’
One of Donald Trump’s co-defendants spent a second night in the Fulton County Jail on Friday after telling the court he could not afford a lawyer, was considered a flight risk and was denied bail.
Harrison Floyd, a former US Marine and mixed martial arts fighter, is accused of taking part in a scheme to pressure an election clerk to falsely admit to voting fraud.
On Thursday, he surrendered at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, but — unlike the other 18 — the bail process was complicated by his May arrest in Maryland on charges of assaulting FBI agents who tried to arrest him. to summon.
He spent Thursday night in the notorious jail and appeared before Judge Emily Richardson via video link on Friday to beg her to release him without posting bail.
Harrison Floyd’s mugshot was taken Friday when he turned himself in. He spent Thursday and Friday nights in the Fulton County Jail
Floyd made a virtual appearance before Judge Emily Richardson on Friday
Floyd appeared from prison via video link on Friday, but the judge refused to release him
Floyd told the judge that it typically costs between $40,000 and $100,000 to hire a private attorney to fly to Georgia.
“I can’t afford a lawyer for something like this,” he said, telling Richardson he didn’t want to put his family in debt.
Richardson told Floyd he could hire a lawyer or represent himself.
It was not immediately clear why Floyd was told he could not be represented by a public defender.
In general, defendants must meet certain financial requirements to be eligible.
Floyd is accused of pressuring pollster Ruby Freeman to confess to voter fraud crimes she did not commit. He is said to have worked with Trevian Kutti, a former publicist for Kanye West, who is also being charged
Trevian Kutti was beaming in her mug shot, taken on Friday
Floyd (left) speaks with Republican activists Paris Dennard (center) and Kamilah Prince (right) in 2020
For now, Floyd remains in the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation by the US Department of Justice over violence and unsanitary conditions, as well as the deaths of 15 inmates last year.
One of them was a man whose family says in a lawsuit that he was ‘eaten alive’ by bed bugs.
Floyd had insisted he posed no flight risk, but was told the bond’s issuance would ultimately be decided by Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case.
“There are reasons to refuse the tape at this point,” Richardson said.
“I go ahead and discover that you have a risk of committing further crimes and a potential risk of fleeing jurisdiction.
“So I’m going to deny the tape, but there will be a full review of the tape.”
All 18 other defendants in the case have been released after posting bail, the records show.
Trevian Kutti, a former Kayne West publicist, and Stephen Lee, an Illinois police chaplain, were the last two to surrender.
Bails range from $200,000 for Trump to $150,000 for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani to $10,000 for Misty Hampton, a former Georgia county election supervisor accused of tampering with voting equipment.
One of those defendants, attorney Sidney Powell, on Friday asked the court to allow her trial to begin no later than November 3, as allowed under Georgia law.
She became the second of 19 to call for a speedy trial: Kenneth Chesebro, seen as the architect of the plan to convince Mike Pence to deny certification of the Jan. 6 election, also has his right to a speedy process exercised.
Fani Willis, the district attorney, had originally proposed a March 4 trial date for all 19 defendants, including Trump.
But McAfee has agreed to a separate trial on Oct. 23 for Chesebro, who, like Powell, had asked for an earlier date.
Trump’s legal team has not yet proposed a date for the trial.
Floyd’s appearance comes on the heels of a momentous day when Trump’s police photo was released from prison.
Trump, 77, was caught staring at the camera in the first photo of a former president in US history, another extraordinary moment for the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
After spending about 20 minutes in jail on Thursday night, Trump reiterated the claim that Willis’s prosecution — along with the others he faces — is politically motivated.
“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” he told reporters. “I didn’t do anything wrong, and everyone knows it.”
All 19 defendants have now surrendered at the Fulton County Jail and all have been released except Floyd
One of the latest defendants to surrender, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, turned himself in early Friday and was released on $100,000 bail, the records show.
Trump has not yet entered a plea in the Georgia case.
He has pleaded not guilty in two federal cases accusing him of overturning the 2020 election and withholding classified documents after leaving office, and in a New York state case related to hush money payments to a porn star.
But far from hurting his candidacy for the Republican Party nomination, the four cases brought against him have only strengthened his position.
He has a commanding lead in the Republican race to challenge Biden in the November 2024 election.