Trump legal brief: Black Voices for Trump director posts $100,000 bond
"Trump legal brief" provides succinct daily updates on the criminal cases against the 45th president of the United States.
Georgia election interference
Harrison Floyd, director of Black Voices for Trump, posts bail and is released from jail
Key players: Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd, Judge Scott McAfee, election worker Ruby Freeman, pastor Stephen Lee, publicist Trevian Kutti, Judge Emily Richardson
Floyd was out on $100,000 bail on Tuesday after spending the weekend in jail, the Washington Post reported. Judge McAfee set Floyd's bond on Tuesday. The director of Black Voices for Trump, Floyd is charged with five felony counts for his alleged role in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Along with Lee and Kutti, Floyd is accused of threatening election worker Freeman, pressuring her to “reveal information under the threat of incarceration if she did not comply.”
Floyd was also the only defendant in the case not to have a bond agreement in place prior to turning himself in at Fulton County Jail. Floyd was initially denied bond by Judge Richardson, who cited his prior arrest last year for physically threatening an FBI agent who had attempted to serve him with a subpoena.
Why it matters: An ardent supporter of Donald Trump, Floyd told McAfee he did not have the money to hire a lawyer. McAfee told him he would appoint a public defender to do so.
First defendant in Georgia election interference case pleads not guilty, two others waive arraignment
Key players: attorney Ray Smith, publicist Kutti, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell
Ray Smith, a lawyer who worked for Trump’s 2020 campaign and is charged with 12 felony counts, became the first defendant in the sprawling case to plead not guilty, CNN reported Monday.
Smith waived his Sept. 6 arraignment and entered his plea on Monday.
Two other defendants also waived their Sept. 6 arraignment: former Kanye West publicist Kutti and Trump campaign lawyer Powell.
In December of 2020, Smith participated in a Georgia state Senate hearing in which he falsely told lawmakers that due to widespread voter fraud, the election results “must be vacated and cannot be allowed to stand.”
Why it matters: The defendants in the case have begun to pursue their own strategy as to how they will defend themselves in court. Some have requested a speedy trial, while others are seeking a change of venue. As the case progresses, some legal experts say the chances that some defendants will try to cut a deal with prosecutors will only grow.
Jan. 6 election interference
Prosecutors give Trump lawyers 12.8 million pages of evidence
Key players: special counsel Jack Smith, Trump lawyer John Lauro, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan
Federal prosecutors told Judge Chutkan that they had handed over 12.8 million pages of evidence to Trump’s legal team, WREG News in Memphis reported.
Included in that number are 5 million pages of grand jury testimony and exhibits and 3 million pages of documents handed over by the U.S. Secret Service.
Trump attorney Lauro said the volume of documents in the case was an “avalanche of information” and pleaded with the judge to give the defense more time to review them.
Prosecutors countered that 7.8 million pages of the material were already available to the defense and included things like Trump’s social media postings and the findings of the House Jan. 6 select committee.
Chutkan ruled that Trump’s trial on charges he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and three other felonies would begin on March 4.
Why it matters: Prosecutors have compiled a voluminous amount of evidence against the former president, much of it hiding in plain sight.
Read more:
The New Republic: Former judge trashes ‘stunningly stupid’ move from Trump’s legal team
CBS News: Trump’s scheduled trial dates and where they fall in the presidential primary calendar
