Georgia judge refuses to revoke bond for Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd over comments about witnesses

A Georgia judge refused Tuesday to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd, one of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the election racketeering case, for what prosecutors called threatening and intimidating social media posts about witnesses in the case.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee ruled that posts mentioning election worker Ruby Freeman weren't threats in the traditional sense. McAfee ruled comments about secretary of state official Gabriel Sterling and former co-defendant Jenna Ellis may have been technical violations of the agreement against communicating with witnesses, but not every violation means he should revoke the bond and jail Floyd.

“I read these as seeing more that someone is wanting to defend his case in a very public way," McAfee said.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked to jail Floyd because of social media posts and broadcast interviews she said violated his bond agreement not to interfere with witnesses. She called his defenses that social posts weren't communicating with witnesses "absurd" and "lunacy."

But Floyd’s lawyers argued her request “lacks any good faith basis.” Floyd, who served as a leader for the organization Black Voices for Trump, remained free on $100,000 bond while awaiting a trial that might not start before August.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers huddled after McAfee's decision to draft tougher restrictions on what Floyd can say about the case.

The bond argument serves as a warning about what defendants can say about pending cases. Trump is appealing two gag orders in other trials − a New York civil trial over business fraud and a federal criminal trial over charges of election interference − that he contends infringe on his First Amendment right to criticize the cases while campaigning for president.

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Besides the overarching racketeering charge in the case, Floyd is charged with conspiring to solicit false statements and influencing witnesses for allegedly trying to get election worker Ruby Freeman to change her version of how votes were counted at State Farm Arena on election night. Floyd has pleaded not guilty.

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Floyd 'spit on the court': Willis

Willis argued Floyd flagrantly violated the bond agreement in social-media posts and interviews. Willis cited a Floyd social media post Nov. 1 that flagged Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his aide, Gabriel Sterling, who said the Georgia election was conducted without widespread fraud. Floyd’s message asked whether “they should be more concerned about interfering in elections, perjury before Congress, lying to DA Fani Willis, or all of the above?”

Willis also cited a Nov. 6 video distributed on the Conservative Daily podcast that discussed the guilty plea of another co-defendant, Jenna Ellis. Floyd said: “Trump was underserved by people like her” and said she “showed who she really is” by pleading guilty.

Willis also cited a Floyd social media post Nov. 14 for intimidation of Freeman, the Georgia election worker. The post questioned whether Freeman sounded pressured during a recording. “Why would DA Fani Willis want to hide this from the public?” Floyd asked.

“It is clear he violated the conditions,” Willis said. “My team asked me to tone it down because I referred to it initially as lunacy and they asked that I refer to it as absurdity. I would submit you can use either adjective.”

Willis urged McAfee to jail Floyd pending trial to ensure a fair trial.

“What he really did is spit on the court,” Willis said. “You knew it was against the rules. You put someone in danger as a result of doing it and now you need to be held accountable for it so that we can make sure that all of the defendants in this case get a fair trial and that witnesses are kept safe.”

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Floyd's comments 'meant to intimidate and harass me': Ellis

Witnesses said they saw the posts and two said they felt threatened or intimidated by the posts.

Ellis told assistant chief investigator Michael Hill through her lawyer that “I believe it was meant to intimidate and harass me.”

Freeman’s lawyer, Von DuBose, testified Tuesday that she has an online monitoring service because of death threats associated with the case. DuBose said more security precautions were taken after Floyd’s posts.

“We were very concerned about that,” DuBose said.

Sterling said Tuesday the posts because of notifications. He said he didn’t like being compared to fecal matter, as one post had done.

“It’s par for the course when you’re a public figure,” Sterling said.

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Floyd's comments proclaim 'I'm innocent': defense lawyers

Floyd believes the move to revoke his bond came in retaliation to him rejecting a plea offer, subpoenaing county election records and speaking out after being incorrectly blamed for leaking video evidence in the case, according to his lawyers, Christopher Kachouroff and Todd Harding.

Trump's bond order put restrictions on his social media posts, but Floyd's didn't, the lawyers said in a filing. Prosecutors could have notified Floyd if his social media posts were a problem, the lawyers said.

"All of Mr. Floyd’s posts constitute political speech, the touchstone of First Amendmentguarantees," the lawyers wrote. ".None of them contain any threat to use force that would make a reasonable person believe the posts were somehow intimidating or unlawful."

The lawyers also argued that none of Floyd's comments were objectionable. In particular, Floyd contends Freeman's testimony will help exonerate him rather than convict him.

While Floyd tagged witnesses in his posts, which notified them about his comments, Kachouroff compared one comment among Ellis’ 1 million social media followers to shouting in a football stadium. Freeman isn’t on social media.

“Nothing in any of the posts that he wrote about Ms. Freeman show any threats of intimidation,” Kachouroff said. “They are merely statements that he is claiming ‘I’m innocent, I haven’t done anything wrong.’”

“I think we need to give Mr. Floyd the benefit of the doubt,” Kachouroff added.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia judge refuses to revoke bond for Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd