Georgia co-defendant Harrison Floyd makes surprise showing at Giuliani's defamation trial

A co-defendant of longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani in the Georgia election subversion criminal case made a surprise appearance Thursday at Giuliani’s civil defamation trial in Washington, D.C.

Harrison Floyd sat in the public section of the courtroom, just feet behind former Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, who are the plaintiffs in Giuliani’s $43 million defamation suit.

Freeman and Moss faced a deluge of threats after Giuliani and others made unfounded accusations that the duo committed election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. They are suing Giuliani on claims of “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage.” 

In Georgia, Floyd is charged with three criminal counts for allegedly attempting to convince Freeman to make false statements about election operations on Election Day 2020, under the guise of offering her help. 

Floyd is one of more than a dozen defendants in the case, a list that also includes Giuliani and former President Trump. The trio all pleaded not guilty and have denied wrongdoing.

Prosecutors last month unsuccessfully sought to detain Floyd ahead of his criminal trial, which is at least months away, over his social media posts. The judge let Floyd remain free but modified his conditions of release.

Under the conditions, Floyd is barred from having any “contact with any codefendant, witness, or any person specifically named in the indictment in this case.”

Floyd, who lives in the suburbs of D.C., did not appear to have any direct contact Thursday with Freeman, who is named in the indictment in multiple places, or Giuliani.

Freeman was seated with her lawyers facing away from Floyd, and it is unclear if she knew he was in the courtroom.

Floyd was in the room for less than an hour as the parties began the day’s proceedings sorting out the verdict form and other legal issues.

He left before jurors entered the courtroom for the day to hear closing arguments.