After Donald Trump and the 17 other people charged in the case reported to jail and posted bond, one of his co-defendants in a complex Georgia election fraud case stayed in jail on Friday.
Defendant Harrison Floyd was scheduled to appear in court on Friday morning, according to court records, but Judge Scott McAfee told reporters he would not be there after all, Reuters reported.
Court documents, according to McAfee, contained “misinformation” about Floyd’s case. He told the press, “Mr. Floyd is entitled to a first appearance. One will not be taking place today here.”
It was unclear what would have been covered in Floyd’s hearing, although preliminary hearings usually cover the conditions of any potential bond and release prior to trial.
According to records, all 18 further defendants in the case have been freed after posting bond. Bail ranges from $200,000 for Trump to $150,000 for the former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, to $10,000 for Misty Hampton, a former election supervisor in a tiny Georgia county accused of tampering with voting machinery.
Attorney Sidney Powell, who represents one of those defendants, requested on Friday that her trial start no later than November 3 in accordance with Georgia law.
All 19 defendants, including Trump, were initially scheduled to go on trial on March 4, according to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. However, McAfee has agreed to a separate trial for attorney Kenneth Chesebro on October 23. Chesebro, like Powell, had requested an earlier date.
Floyd, a former U.S. Marine and mixed martial artist, is charged with taking part in a plot to induce an election official to make a fraudulent admission of voter fraud.
He was detained in Maryland in May in a separate case and charged with assaulting FBI officials who attempted to serve him with a subpoena, according to court records.
On Friday, it was unclear if Floyd, the leader of a group called Black Voices for Trump, had been denied bond or was unable to raise the cash required to ensure his release before to trial.
He will continue to be housed in the Fulton County Jail, which the US Department of Justice is looking into due to violence, unclean conditions, and 15 inmate deaths last year. One of them was a man, according to his family’s legal claim, who was “eaten alive” by bedbugs.
Floyd’s non-appearance follows a historic day in which Trump’s jailhouse mug shot was made public. The 77-year-old Trump was photographed glaring at the camera for the first time in American history, marking yet another unique occasion for the front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024.
Trump has been charged with 13 felonies, including racketeering, by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for allegedly pressuring state officials to annul his 2020 election loss and assembling an illegitimate slate of electors to thwart the formal congressional certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory.
On Thursday night, after spending approximately 20 minutes at the jail, Trump reiterated his assertion that Willis’ case and the others he is facing are politically motivated.
He told reporters, “What has happened here is a travesty of justice.” “Everyone knows I did nothing wrong,” you said.
Former Justice Department employee Jeffrey Clark, one of the last defendants to surrender, handed himself in early on Friday and was freed on a $100,000 bond, according to documents.
As of yet, Trump has not pleaded guilty in the Georgia case. In two federal lawsuits accusing him of trying to rig the 2020 election and keeping secret papers after leaving office, as well as a New York state case involving hush money payments to a porn star, he has entered a not guilty plea.
But rather than hurting his chances of winning the Republican Party nomination, the four lawsuits brought against him have rather strengthened them. He now enjoys a sizable lead in the Republican primary against Biden in November 2024.
Rephrased from: The Republic Brief By: Trump Knows
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