Donald Trump Co-Defendant's Sudden Silence

Donald Trump co-defendant Harrison Floyd has not posted on X, formerly Twitter, since a judge ruled not to jail him over his social media use.

Floyd, a former leader of Black Voices for Trump who is facing three charges accusing him of being involved in a harassment campaign targeting an Atlanta election worker in the former president's Georgia election interference case, was accused of intimidating witnesses through social media posts by Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, who is leading the case against Trump.

Willis said Floyd, who has pleaded not guilty in the case, engaged in numerous intentional and flagrant violations of his bond agreement, which was agreed upon in August after he spent five days in jail and bars him from communicating directly or indirectly with or intimidating co-defendants or potential witnesses involved in the case.

Judge Scott McAfee ruled on November 21 that Floyd did technically violate his bond, and said his deal should be modified to reflect the "nuances of social media." But he rejected the plea to jail him.

"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.

Since the hearing, Floyd has refrained from posting. His last post was shared on November 17, and was a repost of a video of a child reciting the Pledge of Allegiance by a flag. "More of this," Floyd said alongside an emoji of the American flag.

Newsweek has contacted Floyd by X to comment on this story.

Willis had filed a motion citing various social media posts that she said violated his bond.

In one post on X, formerly Twitter, on November 1, that Willis referenced, Floyd tagged Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, and Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer in the office, who are both witnesses in the case. Floyd seemed to imply they were lying about the case.

In another post on November 6, Floyd posted 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.

Floyd's lawyers argued that in the motion, prosecutors were trying to silence his freedom of speech and signaled in court that he would change his behavior if the judge requested it.

Speaking to Newsweek, Michael Cohen, the former lawyer who served as an attorney for Trump, said by not posting on social media since, he suspected Floyd was acting on legal advice.

"It is common practice for defendant's counsel to insist on their refraining from making public statements; including via social media platforms. Clearly, Mr. Floyd is acquiescing to the advice of counsel," he said.

Jonathan L. Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, agreed. "My hunch is that Floyd's lawyers advised him to stop commenting on social media to minimize his risk of being sent to jail," he told Newsweek.

"Floyd was no doubt given strict guidance from counsel on what he can and absolutely cannot do at this point, and he was no doubt further warned that refusing to abide by those instructions could put him at risk of actually being held in jail pending trial for a subsequent infraction," Bradley Moss, an attorney at Mark Zaid, said.

"Just like how Donald Trump's posting was modified when gag orders were put in place in NY and DC, we have seen how criminal defendants like Floyd will in fact modify their behavior when the court takes steps to impress upon them the risks they are taking with their ability to remain free on bail pending trial."