Harrison William Prescott Floyd, a supporter of Donald J. Trump who was charged with the former president in the Georgia election interference case, was posted $100,000 bail on Tuesday, the last of 19 defendants in the case to reach a bond deal.
While the other defendants named in the indictment, including Mr. Trump, made only brief visits to an Atlanta prison in recent days to get booked, 39-year-old Floyd, who once led a group called Black Voices for Trump, in jail for several days after turning himself in last Thursday, apparently for showing up on his booking without a lawyer.
On Tuesday night, Fulton County inmate records showed that Mr. Floyd had not yet been released. Neither Mr. Floyd nor the lawyer who eventually signed up to represent him, Todd A. Harding, could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Mr. Floyd, also known as Willie Lewis Floyd III, is accused of being involved in a scheme to coerce a voter fraud confession from Ruby Freeman, an election aide in Fulton County, where Mr. Trump and several of his supporters were looking for. evidence of fraud so they could derail Congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The assault of Mrs. Freeman, a black woman in her 60s, is one of the weirder stories that form the basis of the 98-page indictment against the state. Shortly after the election, right-wing commentators began spreading baseless allegations of misconduct by Ms. Freeman, based on security camera footage of her counting votes at a sports arena in downtown Atlanta.
Mr. Trump chimed in, mentioning Ms. Freeman by name in his now famous January 2, 2021, phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During the call, he labeled Ms. Freeman a “professional voter and fraudster” and told Mr. Raffensperger that he wanted to “find” about 12,000 votes in Georgia — just enough to let him win the state.
Two days later, a Trump supporter named Trevian Kutti persuaded Ms. Freeman to meet her at a police station in Cobb County, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. Mrs. Kutti warned Mrs. Freeman that an event would soon take place that would “disrupt her freedom,” according to police body camera video of the rally. Ms Kutti also offered vague guarantees of help, telling Ms Freeman she was going to call a man who had “authoritative powers to give you protection.”
Mrs. Freeman then called Mr. Floyd. According to Reuters, Ms Freeman said Mr Floyd had tried to pressure her by saying she had committed voter fraud. Ms Kutti warned her she would go to jail if she didn’t “tell everything,” Ms Freeman told the news channel.
All 19 defendants in the massive Georgia indictment, including Mr. Trump, are charged with racketeering in connection with what prosecutors are calling a “criminal organization” that sought to unlawfully undo the former president’s electoral loss in the state . They all face at least one other charge; Mr Floyd is charged with influencing a witness and conspiracy to solicit false statements and writings.
Mr Floyd was arrested earlier in February on charges of assaulting a federal agent involved in the Justice Department’s investigation into the 2020 election, The Washington Post reported last week.
