FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A co-defendant in Georgia's 2020 election interference case can now work for former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, according to a judge's order.
Harrison Floyd's bond was modified on Feb. 23. He was previously not allowed to contact any of the other defendants indirectly or directly. However, the judge's most recent order states that Floyd can now have indirect contact with Trump regarding his employment as long as it does not relate to the alleged facts in the case.
The bond modification followed an early February request by Floyd's legal team to loosen some of the restrictions of an earlier bond order.
"As this is campaign season, and the Defendant's occupation depends on communication with political actors, many of whom are codefendants, there exists a need for communications between the Defendant and other codefendants who may be working within Donald Trump's campaign," a Feb. 6 motion from Floyd's attorneys argued.
This alteration in the bond opens the door for Floyd to help campaign for Trump in the upcoming presidential election in November. He has a history of helping the former President's campaign, as he's the former director of a political group called Black Voices for Trump.
Floyd's bond modifications came to recent attention after Floyd claimed on social media he was "just now finding out about" the new bond conditions, roughly one month after they were implemented.
However, a publicly accessible Fulton County court database indicates a copy of the bond modification has been available for inspection since Feb. 27. That said, the county had a cyberattack in late January, which caused widespread outages.
11Alive reached out to the Fulton County Superior Court because it is currently unknown whether the attack had any influence on Floyd's claim that he was not informed about the change. We also contacted Floyd's attorneys for comment and are awaiting a response from both.
Floyd faces three charges in the election interference case related to his alleged involvement in a plot to get then-Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman to falsely admit that she committed election fraud. He's accused of recruiting Illinois pastor Stephen Lee to arrange a meeting with Freeman and Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti. Floyd, Lee and Kutti were all then indicted for their alleged roles. They all have pleaded not guilty.
He was also the only person in the case to spend extended time in the Fulton County jail after turning himself in without negotiating a bond. Others, like Trump, had a negotiated bond, so they were able to go through the jail's booking process and quickly leave.
Floyd's attorneys have repeatedly asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to dismiss the charges against him on procedural grounds. Those arguments have been denied.
However, McAfee did grant Floyd permission on Monday to request an immediate hearing before Georgia's Court of Appeals to reevaluate his rulings in the case, as opposed to waiting until after a verdict is reached. It's up to the appellate court's discretion whether to take on the issue or not. Legal experts have told 11Alive the court has roughly two months to decide.
