Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis turned heads during a court hearing on Tuesday when she offered some harsh legal advice to a co-defendant in former President Donald Trump’s ‘racketeering’ case.
Willis was in court to request that Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee sanction the former director of Black Voices for Trump, Harrison William Floyd, for violating the terms of a bond agreement that prevents him from communicating about co-defendants and potential witnesses in the high-profile case, according to the Georgia Recorder.
According to McAfee, Floyd technically breached a bond agreement that barred him from communicating with witnesses and co-defendants. However, the judge expressed the opinion that Floyd’s social media comments didn’t justify sending him back to jail.
Instead, McAfee called for more clarity regarding what Floyd is allowed to communicate about the case on social media and in other public forums.
During the proceedings, however, Willis said that Floyd, who she accused of intimidating witnesses via social media posts, should “shut his mouth” altogether about the case because she could and would use his words against him if his case goes to trial, Newsweek reported.
“It is unfair to those witnesses,” Willis said in court on Tuesday. “And there are real consequences for allowing defendants to intimidate witnesses.”
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin reported that Willis also noted: “I’ve stated on the record he can say whatever he’d like on any post he’d like about me. I have no value for what he says.”
“And I’m threatened every day anyway so that he posts and I get threatened some more, that’ll be what it is. I’ve learned to live with that and I am a public official, and voters elected me here, and I’ve put myself in this position,” she continued, according to Rubin.
“That does not give him the right to contact co-defendants or intimidate other witnesses. And quite frankly, it’s really in the defendant’s interest to shut his mouth about this case because it can and will be used against him,” Willis noted further.
Newsweek added:
In one post on X, formerly Twitter, on November 1, that Willis referenced in her motion to revoke his bond, Floyd tagged Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, and Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer in the office, both of whom are witnesses in the case. Floyd appeared to imply they were lying about the case.
In another post on November 6, Floyd tweeted a link to an interview he gave to the Conservative Daily Podcast in which he discussed Jenna Ellis’ guilty plea. Ellis is one of Trump’s former lawyers and another co-defendant and witness in the case who recently reached a plea deal.
“This defendant is very well aware of what happens when he tweets about this case,” Willis said. “We do not believe it is appropriate for him to make derogatory comments about anyone. He can publicly criticize me all he wants to. I don’t value his opinion.”
Attorneys for Floyd argued that Willis was attempting to censor their client’s speech in violation of the First Amendment.
“These are just people who are expressing their opinions based on his post,” lawyer John Morrison said. “He has no control over these people.”
McAfee ruled that Floyd technically violated his bond but told the legal teams his deal ought to be modified to reflect the “nuances of social media.”
“I think the ultimate result of today’s hearing is that it’s very clear to me that this bond needs to be modified,” McAfee said.
Ex-Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Ellis, as well as bail bondsman Scott Hall, have all pleaded guilty and accepted plea deals.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
