ATLANTA — Harrison Floyd, the lone defendant in the Georgia 2020 election RICO case still in custody at the Fulton County Jail, will remain there until he can have a full bond hearing after a judge denied bond in a first appearance Friday.
No arguments were heard for or against bond - that will be left to an as-yet-unscheduled full hearing before Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the RICO case involving Floyd, Donald Trump and 17 other co-defendants.
But Judge Emily Richardson, in making an initial bond determination, determined Floyd would be a flight risk and a risk to commit additional felonies if out on bail.
RELATED: Why is Harrison Floyd the one Georgia election RICO defendant remaining in jail after booking?
Speaking to the judge without representation - unusual in a first appearance proceeding - Floyd disagreed he was a flight risk.
"I got on a plane, I voluntarily came here, I am already here on federal pretrial supervision," he said, referring to a case from earlier this year in which he is charged with assaulting an FBI agent who was serving him a subpoena for a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. "I had no issues on being on pretrial supervision, there is no way I'm a flight risk, I showed up here before the president was here."
It's not yet clear why Floyd, unlike the other 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case, didn't have a prearranged bond before turning himself in - though it may be connected to the federal charge.
The purpose of the first appearance hearing, the judge informed him, was merely to inform him of his rights and the charges against him.
Floyd said he had requested a public defender and was denied, though it was unclear why. The judge informed him he could hire legal representation if he doesn't qualify for a public defender, though Floyd said he believed it would cost him tens of thousands to retain a lawyer, given the charges he faces, and he said that he could not afford to go into such debt as he takes care of his daughter.
It's unclear when Floyd might appear before Judge McAfee, and if he will represent himself in doing so.
Floyd faces three counts in the Georgia election RICO indictment.
Who is Harrison Floyd?
First, a bit more on Floyd. From the Associated Press:
Also known as Willie Lewis Floyd III, he served as director of Black Voices for Trump, and is accused of recruiting Stephen Lee to arrange a meeting with election worker Ruby Freeman and Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti.
Freeman was in the midst of a harassment campaign by those falsely accusing her of fraud at State Farm Arena on election night, according to the RICO indictment, and prosecutors charge Floyd, Lee and Kutti with trying to manipulate her under charges including conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings influencing witnesses.