(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) Harrison Floyd, leader of the group Black Voices for Trump and one of the 18 co-defendants in former President Donald Trump’s Fulton County lawfare attack by partisan District Attorney Fani Willis, was released Tuesday after spending four days in county lockup for being considered a “flight risk.”
The plight of Floyd—the only male, black co-defendant among the Fulton 19—quickly inspired backlash among conservatives, including a growing number of black Trump supporters, who saw it as yet another example of the two-tiered justice system at work.
Why is Harrison Floyd still in Fulton Co. jail? Why did Fani Willis leave a black man in jail over this? He needs to be released immediately. Please donate to his legal defense fund!!https://t.co/wEapZ3g18h
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) August 25, 2023
After Floyd, like his co-defendants, voluntarily surrendered himself last week, Judge Emily Richardson of the Fulton County Superior Court deemed him a threat to society and a flight risk, the Atlanta Journal–Constitution reported.
That left him to endure grueling conditions for four days in detention.
As many in the media gleefully reported following Trump’s arrest, 23 people have died in the Fulton County jail over the last four years, including one man who died from malnourishment and complications from bed bug bites.
“Just one was a stabbing death where they didn’t get to him for like two hours—he bled out,” said Christopher I. Kachouroff, one of Floyd’s attorneys.
“A guy died in there from … bed bugs, of all things,” Kachouroff added. “He’d been bitten so many times.”
A GiveSendGo campaign created for Floyd by Dominion Law Center to assist with his legal expenditures had raised nearly $280,000 as of Wednesday, well beyond its $200,000 goal.
“Harrison is also a veteran of America’s finest—the United States Marine Corp [sic],” it said. “He is a disabled vet and lives off that pension. For him to be treated this way is a travesty.”
The mounting public attention over the weekend proved to be a dilemma for Willis’s office, which didn’t like the optics, according to Kachouroff.
When confronted, Willis’s spokesman, attempted to blame Floyd for showing up unprepared for the hearing.
“Mr. Floyd has had the opportunity to work out a consent bond in the same manner as the other defendants named in the indictment, but chose not to do so until today,” spokesman Jeff DiSantis claimed Tuesday.
The prosecutor’s office said Floyd showed up last Thursday without an attorney and was arrested and booked like any other criminal, the Journal-Constitution noted.
DiSantis shared a recording of a phone call Willis made that same day to attorney Carlos J.R. Salvado, Floyd’s attorney, in an unrelated criminal case in federal court in Maryland.
In the call, Willis said she sent a representative to meet with Floyd when he turned himself in. The DA reportedly told Salvado that Floyd was presented with a consent bond at that time—he denied it.
“Fani will say he should have called her in advance to work out a bond. But that’s what these white Democrats want her to say,” said the GiveSendGo campaign.
“…Harrison is innocent,” it continued. “There is no victim here in this fake case being brought by Fani. Harrison shouldn’t have to post any bond whatsoever.”
Nevertheless, the assault on Trump’s black supporters may prove a political gift for Republicans as Democrats’ decades-long grip on black voters appears to be waning fast.
Trump’s mugshot had raised some $7 million as of Sunday, and on social media, many African-Americans rallied in support of the Republican leader, expressing admiration for his newfound street cred.
Some commenters argued that black men, in particular, were sympathizing with Trump because his arrest mirrors the perceived mistreatment that black individuals receive within the American criminal justice system.
One slogan, “The more you indict, the more we unite,” began trending, including a tweet by Brandon Straka, the gay, red-pilled founder of the #WalkAway movement, ZeroHedge reported.
“The more you indict, the more we UNITE”
“Gangstas- the HOOD’s got this man’s back. It’s Trump 2024!” #WalkAway pic.twitter.com/7E3Re85q1w
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) August 26, 2023
In Atlanta, several groups, including one called Blacks for Trump, gathered near Fulton County Jail on Rice Street to support Trump. Black men were interviewed and shared their opinion that Trump was better for their financial well-being, stating that he encouraged them to work hard and put America first.
One man even articulated his support while wearing a shirt that shockingly declared “N***as 4 Trump.”
Comedian ‘Clutch Williams’ released a video supporting President Trump and said Trump was the best president “We had in a long time. It appears that every lie is being revealed before our eyes.”
🔥🚨BREAKING: Comedian ‘Clutch Williams’ just released a video supporting President Trump and goes as far to say that Donald Trump was one of the best Presidents we had in a long time. It appears that every lie is being revealed before our eyes. pic.twitter.com/zNSLbT6LGM
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 26, 2023
Another person posted on social media, “Trump’s arrest is only making him more popular in the black community!!”
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
