AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal jury in Texas on Monday cleared a group of former President Donald Trump supporters and found one driver liable in a civil trial over a so-called “Trump Train” that surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus days before the 2020 election.
The two-week trial in a federal courthouse in Austin centered on whether the actions of the “Trump Train” participants amounted to political intimidation. Among those aboard the bus was former Democratic lawmaker Wendy Davis, who testified she feared for her life while a convoy of Trump supporters boxed in the bus along Interstate 35.
The jury awarded $10,000 to the bus driver.
No criminal charges were filed against the six Trump supporters who were sued by Davis and two others aboard the bus. Civil rights advocates hoped a guilty verdict would send a clear message about what constitutes political violence and intimidation.
On Oct. 20, 2020, a Biden-Harris campaign bus was traveling from San Antonio to Austin for an event when a group of cars and trucks waving Trump flags surrounded the bus.
Video that Davis recorded from the bus shows pickup trucks with large Trump flags slowing down to box in the bus as it tried to move away from the group of Trump supporters. One of the defendants hit a campaign volunteer’s car while the trucks occupied all lanes of traffic, forcing the bus and everyone around it to a 15 mph crawl.
It was the last day of early voting in Texas and the bus was scheduled to stop at San Marcos for an event at Texas State University.
The event was canceled after Davis and others on the bus — a campaign staffer and the driver — made repeated calls to 911 asking for a police escort through San Marcos and no help arrived.
Davis testified that she felt scared and anxious throughout the ordeal. “I feel like they were enjoying making us afraid,” she testified. “It’s traumatic for all of us to revisit that day.”
Nadia Lathan, The Associated Press