by WorldTribune Staff, November 7, 2023
The defense team for one of former President Donald Trump's 18 co-defendants in the Georgia elections case said they intend to show in court that Trump won the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Harrison Floyd, the Black Voices for Trump leader in Georgia, was charged on Aug. 14 with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings, and influencing witnesses.
Floyd was the only defendant to spend time in jail as a result of the indictment. He was released on bond on Aug. 30.
Chris Kachouroff, one of Floyd’s defense attorneys, said at a Nov. 3 hearing before Judge Scott McAfee that the 98-page indictment claims repeatedly as fact that Trump lost the 2020 election in Georgia, and the charges against Floyd are predicated on that claim. But if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is wrong and Trump actually won the election, then Floyd can't be guilty of soliciting “false statements and writings” that conveyed as much.
Floyd’s legal team has served subpoenas to the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the Fulton County Clerk of Courts, and the Fulton County Board of Elections, The Epoch Times reported on Nov. 3.
Materials the attorneys requested included the ballot images and envelopes for all absentee ballots cast in the 2020 general election, all absentee ballot application forms, reports from the Dominion voting machines used, and all laptops and poll pads used by election workers, along with other documents, files, and drives.
Attorneys also requested all documents and recordings concerning the secretary of state’s post-election investigation into allegations of election fraud.
“The state chose to open this door,” Kachouroff said. “It is a broad and sweeping complaint. They opened the door wide open for us to walk in and ask for these things.”
Willis's indictment also states that Floyd and the other co-defendants were aware that Trump lost the election and that their actions constituted an unlawful conspiracy to change the results in his favor.
That assertion would also be undermined by proof that the Trump won or even proof that the election’s outcome is uncertain, according to Kachouroff. And the subpoenaed materials are likely to contain that proof, he argued.
“We could make that argument that he’s innocent no matter what happened,” Kachouroff said. “And, of course, we would. We’re defense attorneys; that’s what we do.
“But at the end of the day, those are the possible options down the road that could arise. Right now, we believe we’re at Option 1, that President Trump indeed won the election, and we can prove it — with respect to Fulton County.”
Attorneys for Fulton County said it could take months to produce the requested materials.
