ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and the 18 people charged with him in Georgia for involvement in a wide-ranging illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election results all surrendered at an Atlanta jail before the deadline Friday noon.
After Trump was indicted Thursday night — scowling at the camera to take the first mug shot of a former president — seven co-defendants, who had not yet surrendered, did so Friday morning. All but one of the defendants had pre-agreed bail amounts and terms with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and were free to walk after booking.
Harrison William Prescott Floyd, who is accused of molesting a Fulton County poll worker, failed to negotiate early bail and remained in jail after his surrender Thursday. Maryland federal court records show Floyd, who has been identified as a former US Marine and active in the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago under a federal order accusing him of serving two FBI officers Aggressively attacked agents who were supposed to be servicing him with a whopping sum of money, jury subpoena.
An agent’s affidavit filed in U.S. District Court said Floyd yelled at an FBI agent, cursed, jabbed a finger in his face and poked him twice in the chest in a stairwell. It is said Floyd only backed down when the second agent opened his suit and revealed his pistol in its holster.
The records do not indicate the purpose for which the grand jury sought Floyd’s testimony. But he was served during the months that Special Counsel Jack Smith was calling witnesses before the federal grand jury that indicted Trump on Aug. 1 for attempting to reverse his election defeat.
The court records do not list an attorney for Floyd in the Georgia case. Floyd’s attorney in the Maryland federal case, Carlos JR Salvado, did not immediately respond to phone and email messages from The Associated Press.
The Aug. 14 indictment in Fulton County charges Floyd with violating Georgia’s anti-extortion law, conspiring to make false testimony and illegally influencing a witness.
The charges stem from the molestation of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County poll worker whom Trump has accused of voter fraud. Floyd attended a Jan. 4, 2020 call in which Freeman was told she “needed protection” and was pressured into making false statements about voter fraud, the indictment says.
WHAT OCCURS
Next, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is expected to determine the charges against each of the defendants in the coming weeks. They then appeared in court for the first time and pleaded guilty or not guilty, although it is Georgian practice for defendants to waive charges.
The case, filed under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), is vast and the logistics of bringing it to court are likely to be complicated. Legal action by several of the accused has already begun.
At least five of them are trying to take their cases to federal court. Two are former federal officials: former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former US Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark. The other three — former Georgia Republican Party leader David Shafer, Georgia state senator Shawn Still and Cathy Latham — are among 16 Georgia Republicans accused of signing a certificate that falsely stated that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, and who have declared themselves members of the state “duly elected and qualified” voters.
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments in Meadows’ motion Monday and Clark’s motion September 18. There has been speculation that Trump will also seek to take his case to federal court.
One defendant, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who prosecutors say worked to coordinate and implement a plan that would have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate falsely declaring Trump won and naming himself among the Declaring the state’s “duly elected and qualified” voters has filed a lawsuit a swift process. The prerequisite for this is that his trial begins by the end of the next court period, in this case in early November. The day after he filed that motion, Willis — who said she wants to try all 19 defendants together — suggested the trial for all of them begin on October 23. The judge issued an order Thursday that set the trial for only Chesebro on October 23.
Attorney Sidney Powell, who is accused of misrepresenting the Georgia election and helping organize a theft of voting equipment in rural Coffee County, also filed a summary trial request on Friday.
Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow on Thursday objected to a proposed broad trial date in October and a March date that Willis previously proposed. He called for Trump’s case to be separated from Chesebro and any other co-defendant demanding a speedy trial.
Charged with FLOYD attack
In the Floyd case in Maryland, FBI agents said they first reached Floyd by phone while standing outside his home in Rockville, more than 20 miles northwest of Washington, according to court records. The agents informed Floyd that they had a subpoena to service him and Floyd informed them that he was not at home.
When Floyd returned home with his daughter, he marched past the agents without accepting the subpoena presented to him, according to a May 3 affidavit by FBI Agent Dennis McGrail. It is said the agents followed Floyd into the building and up several flights of stairs.
“Bro, I don’t even know who you are,” Floyd told the agents, according to McGrail’s affidavit, which said the agents made an audio recording of the encounter. “You guys are two random guys following me here, to my house, with my daughter. You don’t show me a (expletive) badge, you didn’t show me a (expletive). Away with the (expletive). from me.”
As Floyd slammed the door to his apartment, one of the agents wedged the subpoena between the door and the frame, the affidavit said.
Officers were walking down the stairs when they saw Floyd charge at them and shout profanities, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said Floyd collided with one of the agents in the stairwell, “punched him chest to chest” and threw him backwards. He then chest-poked the same agent again, ignoring orders to retreat. Instead, Floyd began stabbing the agent in the face with his finger as he continued to scream.
The affidavit said Floyd only relented after the second agent showed Floyd his badge and holstered pistol.
Floyd returned to his apartment and called 911 to report that two men had threatened him at his home, one of them armed with a gun.
“They were lucky I didn’t have a gun with me because I would have shot him (expletive) in the ass,” Floyd told a dispatcher, according to the FBI agent’s affidavit.
Floyd told Rockville police officers dispatched to his home that he didn’t know who the men were. He told them that his mother-in-law called earlier in the day and said that two men showed up at her house and wanted to talk to him. The affidavit said he showed officers a text message containing the men’s business cards, sent by his mother-in-law, identifying them as FBI agents.
This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows Robert Cheeley on Friday, August 25, 2023 in Atlanta after he surrendered and was booked. Cheeley faces charges along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others whom Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused of plotting to undermine the will of Georgia voters to keep the Republican president in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade arrives at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Thursday, August 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows Stephen Cliffgard Lee on Friday, August 25, 2023 in Atlanta after he surrendered and was booked. Lee is being indicted along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others whom Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused of plotting to undermine the will of Georgia voters to keep the Republican president in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows former President Donald Trump on Thursday, August 24, 2023 after he surrendered and was being held at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Trump is accused by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of trying to undermine the will of Georgia voters to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows Trevian Kutti on Friday, August 25, 2023 in Atlanta after she surrendered and was booked. Kutti is being indicted along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others whom Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused of plotting to undermine the will of Georgia voters to keep the Republican president in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
This booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office shows Jeffrey Clark on Friday, August 25, 2023 in Atlanta after he surrendered and was booked. Clark is being indicted along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others whom Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused of plotting to undermine the will of Georgia voters to keep the Republican president in the White House after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
