It could also complicate any bail deal for Floyd in Fulton County, where District Attorney Fannie T. Willis (D) said he and 18 others indicted on state charges last week — a group that includes Trump — must surrender by Friday to risk arrest.
Floyd, 39, also known as Willie Lewis Floyd III, is a little-known player who helped drive Trump’s 2020 campaign to black voters. a Online member profile And a Q&A posted in November 2021 by the University Club of Washington describes him as a US Marine Corps veteran whose assignments include roles as a machine gunner, combat marksmanship instructor and martial arts instructor.
He did not respond to phone and email requests for comment. Carlos JR Salvado, the attorney representing Floyd in Maryland on charges of assaulting a federal officer, declined to comment.
Agents went to Floyd’s apartment in Rockville, Md., on Feb. 23, according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Agents were serving the subpoena as part of an investigation into Smith’s efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the investigation. The subpoena sought Floyd’s appearance before a federal grand jury in Washington.
The affidavit accuses Floyd of physically assaulting an agent and defaming the agent and his co-workers.
“Who the f— do you think you are,” Floyd yelled, standing “butt-butt” after pushing an agent backwards with his body.
In Georgia, Floyd has been charged with racketeering, conspiracy to solicit false statements and witness tampering. The charges stem from his alleged efforts with a professional campaigner and publicist to pressure local election worker, Ruby Freeman, into falsely admitting to election crimes he did not commit. Freeman was the target of repeated lies by Trump and his supporters in the days and weeks leading up to the 2020 election. The former president mentioned her 18 times in a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2, 2021, at one point calling her a “professional vote scammer and hustler.”
On August 11, three days before he was charged in the Georgia case, Floyd responded online in a social media post about the case, writing, “The receipts don’t lie, and the best is yet to come.”
In 2019 and 2020, Floyd helped lead the Trump campaign’s Black Voices for Trump, trying to bolster support for the then-president’s reelection bid. Floyd announced a 2019 run for Congress in Georgia but dropped out of the race within weeks. In an ad from his short-lived campaign, Sen. Included are photos of Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DNY).
“I will fight socialists in Congress like I fought terrorists in the desert,” he said in a campaign video.
Floyd was arrested by local police in February for allegedly assaulting the agent, according to the affidavit. Federal authorities indicted him in May. Under conditions set by a federal magistrate, Floyd was ordered to surrender his passport and was prohibited from possessing weapons.
After Floyd’s in-laws told agents where he lived, agents went to an apartment complex in a Washington suburb. At various times, they spoke with Floyd on the phone and through an apartment call box, recording their interactions, according to the affidavit.
They later learned that Floyd’s mother-in-law had sent him copies of the agents’ FBI business cards and told him they wanted to speak with him. Floyd repeatedly asked if the agents had evidence of a crime and said he was busy taking care of his daughter, the affidavit says. He also asked the agents to stop calling him.
“Okay we’ll see you soon,” the assaulted agent later responded to Floyd during a conversation, according to the affidavit.
Thirty minutes later, after seeing Floyd walking towards the entrance of the apartment holding his daughter, the agents spoke to Floyd again. An agent took the subpoena and told Floyd to pick it up, but he refused, the affidavit said.
The agents followed Floyd up the stairs of the apartment building, saying, “Sir, I’m going to walk behind you here, and we’re going to leave the subpoena at the front door.”
One offered to discuss the subpoena with him and answer questions, adding, “We’re really sorry to bother you.”
Floyd replied, “I don’t even know who you are, bro,” according to the affidavit. “You are two random people who are following me here, in my house, with my daughter. You don’t show me a f—– badge, you don’t show me s—. Get away from me.”
An agent kept his FBI credentials, but Floyd did not look at them, the affidavit said. He instead opens the door to his apartment and closes it. As the door closed, an agent threw the subpoena, which was between the door and its frame. The agents started to leave.
They heard screams and saw Floyd running up the stairs towards them.
The affidavit states that Floyd ran toward the agents and lunged at one of them, holding a finger in his mouth and continuing to scream. Floyd stepped back when he saw the other agent reaching for his weapon, the document said.
After the agents left, Floyd called 911 to report that two men were “accusing him,” “following him into his house,” “threatening him” and “throwing things” at him, according to the affidavit. “One of them had a gun,” he said during the call, which was recorded. Floyd later told local police that he locked the door on the men so he could go into his kitchen to “get a weapon,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit also said Floyd told police he didn’t know what the subpoena was and said agents “touched me” as they followed him up the stairs to his apartment. He said they did not identify themselves and he “didn’t know if they were journalists.”
Smith’s complaint against Trump after the 2020 election is more narrowly focused than the complaint Willis brought in Fulton County. But the federal investigation has also been far-reaching. Smith examines in detail the activities of Trump’s campaign, his political action committee, and other individuals and groups., look at The way people associated with Trump lied about the results of the election and how state, local and federal officials tried to use those lies to change the outcome of the vote.
According to the Georgia complaint, Illinois pastor Stephen Lee asked Floyd to help him contact Freeman after Lee knocked on his door, allegedly hoping to persuade Freeman to falsely say the election had been rigged. Lee told Floyd that Freeman wouldn’t talk to him because he was a white man, according to the complaint, and said he wanted Floyd’s help. Both Floyd and Freeman are black.
According to the complaint, Floyd hired publicist Trevian Kutty, who is also black, to travel from Chicago to the Atlanta area to meet with Freeman. Kutty allegedly told Freeman, who had received death threats after being falsely accused by Trump of vote-rigging, that he was in danger and told him to meet him at a police station. They met, and Kutty told Freeman he could take her to a safe place because in about 48 hours there would be a move that would “infringe on your freedom,” according to police body-camera footage first reported by Reuters.
“You’re a loose end for a party that needs tidying up,” Kutty told Freeman, according to the footage.
Lee and Kutty were also charged with racketeering and other crimes in Fulton County. A woman who answered Kutty’s phone Tuesday identified herself as an assistant and declined to comment. An attorney for Lee said the activities he is accused of, such as knocking on doors and attending to phone calls, are not crimes.
An attorney for Freeman declined to comment.
Alice Crites, Dan Lamothe and Perry Stein contributed to this report.