A group of people then-President Trump Supporters in cars and pickup trucks who surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a busy Texas interstate just days before the 2020 presidential election are being sued for political intimidation in a federal civil case that began Monday.
The group of vehicles – a self-labeled “Trump Train” of vehicles adorned with large Trump flags – was involved in an orchestrated effort aimed at intimidating people on the bus and forcing the campaign to cancel its remaining events. in TexasThe plaintiffs argued in their complaint filed in June 2021. An attorney said the defendants say they were only supporting Trump “in a very vehement way.”
Plaintiffs in the case — which includes former Texas state senator Wendy Davis — say the group attempted to run the bus off the road on Interstate 35, and video has emerged of an incident in which a “Trump Train” pickup truck and a Biden campaign SUV driving behind the bus collided, though no one was hurt.
Former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis waves to supporters after her concession speech in Fort Worth on Nov. 4, 2014. Davis is part of a group of plaintiffs who sued members of the “Trump Train” that surrounded the Biden-Harris campaign bus in 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
“It was a day that was very different from any day I’ve experienced during the election campaign,” Davis said, testifying Monday that she was plagued by fear and anxiety.
“Honestly, I felt like I was being held hostage,” Davis said, according to the New York Times.
Video of the October 30, 2020 incident shows a group of cars and pickup trucks flying Trump 2020 Flags Driving alongside the Biden campaign bus on the highway and surrounding the bus in some locations.
A 42-minute video shot by Davis that day was played in court on Monday.
“What if the shoe was on the other foot?” she is heard saying in the clip. “We would all be arrested and probably thrown in front of a car.”
Samuel Hall, representing the plaintiffs, said in his opening statement that a group of Trump supporters chased and surrounded them.
A Trump supporter in a pickup truck chases the Biden-Harris campaign bus in 2020. (John Hinojosa, via Storyful)
“They were literally run out of town,” Hall said. “That was not peaceful patriotism. That has no place in Texas. That has no place in America. And there are consequences.”
The defense argued that the drivers had not conspired against the Biden-Harris campaign bus that day, but rather had joined the train as if it were a pep rally. They also claimed that the bus had multiple opportunities to exit the highway on its way from San Antonio to Austin.
“This was a ‘chasing’ group that wanted to support and advocate very strongly for their candidate of choice,” said attorney Francisco Canseco.
Before the trial, Canseco said his clients had acted legally and exercised their freedom of speech, not violated the rights of people on the bus.
“This is a constitutional issue. It depends on who has more authority to speak behind their candidate,” Canseco said.
Texas police officers refused to escort Biden’s bus, lawsuit alleges: ‘Threatened my life’
The plaintiffs — who also include a bus driver, a campaign volunteer and a staffer — say Trump supporters are responsible for assaults and political intimidation tactics that violate state law and the federal Enforcement of the Intimidation Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The law is intended to prevent political violence and intimidation tactics and was enacted by Congress during the Reconstruction era to protect the voting rights of Black men by prohibiting political violence.
Read the complaint filed in June 2021 – App users, click here:
The plaintiffs argue that some in the caravan believed that Kamala Harris, who was then the vice presidential candidate, would also be in the caravan, when that was not the case.
“Dozens of individuals in at least forty vehicles bearing flags praising then-President and presidential candidate Donald J. Trump formed a self-labeled ‘Trump Train’ vehicle train on a major Texas highway for the apparent purpose of terrorizing and intimidating a group based on that group’s political views, including their support for a different presidential campaign,” the lawsuit states.
“The goal of this effort was to intimidate then-Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden and his supporters.” Kamala HarrisAnd those supporters should be prevented from freely speaking and acting in support of their candidate of choice in Texas.”
The plaintiffs argue that some in the caravan thought Kamala Harris, then a vice presidential candidate, might be in the caravan, even though that was not the case. Harris was photographed during the 2020 campaign. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The defendants in the case – half a dozen participants – requested that the case be dismissed before trial, arguing that the law did not apply to their case. Obama-appointed US District Judge Robert Pitman denied the motion.
“While the First Amendment protects forms of political advocacy, the facts of this case go far beyond protected expressive conduct,” Pittman wrote in his order last month. “A jury could reasonably find that defendants unlawfully conspired and drove in a dangerous manner that threatened or assaulted plaintiff.”
The defendants have denied reckless driving and have argued that a campaign staffer in a white SUV initiated the collision on the highway. Video before the collision shows the SUV repeatedly driving in the middle of the lane.
The collision, and the convoy’s alleged aggressive behavior, happened as the bus passed through San Marcos, about 30 miles southwest of Austin, where a police escort had disembarked.
The plaintiff says he called 911 for police assistance and, in the suit filed earlier by the plaintiffThey alleged that the San Marcos Police Department violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by failing to send a police escort even after multiple 911 calls were made and a bus rider threatened his life.
The lawsuit accused the officers of laughing and joking privately about the emergency call. San Marcos settled the lawsuit in 2023 for $175,000 and a condition that law enforcement receive training on responding to political violence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
