A group of supporters of then-President Trump who surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus with cars and pickup trucks on a busy interstate in Texas days before the 2020 presidential election is being accused of political intimidation in a federal civil lawsuit that began on Monday.
The plaintiffs alleged in a complaint filed in June 2021 that a group of vehicles flying large Trump flags and calling themselves the “Trump Train” participated in a coordinated effort aimed at intimidating passengers on the bus and forcing the campaign to cancel its remaining events in Texas. The defendants argue they were simply “very loudly” supporting Trump, the lawyers said.
According to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who include former Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, the group tried to run the bus off the road along Interstate 35 and, in one incident recorded on video, a “Trump Train” pickup truck and a Biden campaign SUV followed the bus and collided with it, but no one was injured.
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Former Texas 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 suing members of the “Trump Train” who surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus in 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
“It was a day unlike anything I've ever experienced on the campaign trail,” said Davis, who testified Monday that she felt fear and anxiety.
“I honestly felt like I was being held hostage,” Davis said, according to The New York Times.
Video of the Oct. 30, 2020, incident shows a phalanx of cars and pickup trucks flying Trump 2020 flags driving alongside the Biden campaign bus on the highway, surrounding it at several points.
A 42-minute video Davis recorded that day was played in court on Monday.
“If the roles were reversed,” she says in the video, “we would all be arrested and probably thrown over the side of a car.”
In his opening statement, Samuel Hall, representing the plaintiffs, said the plaintiffs were chased and surrounded by a mob of Trump supporters.
In 2020, Trump supporters in pickup trucks tailed a Biden-Harris campaign bus. (John Hinojosa via Storyful)
“They were literally run out of town,” Hall said. “That was not peaceful patriotism. It has no place in Texas. It has no place in America. And it's having consequences.”
The defense argued that the drivers did not conspire against the Biden-Harris campaign bus that day, but rather rode along as if it were a support rally, and that the bus had several opportunities to get off the highway on its way from San Antonio to Austin.
“This was a passionate group that was vocally supporting and defending their chosen candidate,” attorney Francisco Canseco said.
Canseco said before the trial that his clients were acting lawfully, exercising their free speech rights and not violating the rights of those on the bus.
“This is a constitutional issue,” Canseco said. “It's more about who has a stronger right to support a candidate.”
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The plaintiffs, who include bus drivers, campaign volunteers and staff, claim that the assaults and political intimidation by Trump supporters violated state and federal law under the Enforcing Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted by Congress during Reconstruction after the Civil War to prevent political violence and intimidation and protect black men's voting rights by banning political violence.
Read the complaint filed in June 2021 – App users click here:
The plaintiffs allege that some participants in the caravan apparently believed then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris might be on board, when in fact she was not.
“Dozens of individuals in at least 40 vehicles flying flags praising then-President and presidential candidate Donald J. Trump organized a self-described 'Trump Train' along major highways in Texas for the express purpose of intimidating and intimidating groups based on their political views, including support for different presidential campaigns,” the complaint states.
“The purpose of this activity was to intimidate supporters of then-Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris and to prevent them from freely speaking and acting in support of their candidate of choice in the state of Texas.”
The plaintiffs allege that some in the caravan apparently believed then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris might be on board, when she was not. Harris is pictured campaigning in 2020. (Drew Ungerer/Getty Images)
The defendants in the case (six of the interveners) argued that the law didn't apply to them and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed before trial. U.S. District Judge Robert Pittman, an Obama appointee, denied the motion.
“While the First Amendment protects forms of political speech, the facts of this case go far beyond protected speech,” Judge Pittman wrote in his ruling last month. “A jury could well find that the defendants unlawfully conspired to engage in dangerous driving that threatened and assaulted the plaintiffs.”
The defendants deny reckless driving and say it was a white SUV belonging to a campaign worker who caused the collision on the highway. Video leading up to the crash shows the SUV veering back and forth between lanes of traffic.
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The confrontation and aggressive behavior in the motorcade occurred as the police escort unloaded the bus as it passed through San Marcos, about 30 miles southwest of Austin.
The plaintiffs say they called 911 seeking police help, and their previous lawsuit alleges that San Marcos police violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by failing to send a police escort despite multiple calls to 911 in which bus passengers complained they feared for their lives.
The lawsuit accused officers of secretly laughing and joking about emergency calls. San Marcos settled the case by paying $175,000 in 2023 and requiring police to receive training on how to respond to political violence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
