AUSTIN, Texas — A federal jury in Texas on Monday exonerated a bunch of former supporters of President Donald Trump and held a driver liable in a civil trial for the so-called “Trump Train” that surrounded a Biden-Harris marketing campaign bus days earlier than the 2020 election.
The two-week trial in a federal courtroom in Austin centered on whether or not the actions of the “Trump Train” members amounted to political intimidation. Among these aboard the bus was former Democratic congresswoman Wendy Davis, who testified that she feared for her life as a convoy of Trump supporters blocked the bus alongside Interstate 35.
The jury awarded the bus driver $10,000.
No felony expenses have been filed towards the six Trump supporters who had been subpoenaed by Davis and two others on the bus. Civil rights advocates hoped a responsible verdict would ship a transparent message about what constitutes political violence and intimidation.
On October 20, 2020, a Biden-Harris marketing campaign bus was touring from San Antonio to Austin for an occasion when a bunch of vehicles and vans flying Trump flags surrounded the bus.
Video recorded by Davis from the bus exhibits pickup vans with giant Trump flags slowing down to dam the bus because it tried to drive away from the group of Trump supporters. One of the defendants hit a marketing campaign volunteer’s automobile because the pickups took up each lane of site visitors, forcing the bus and everybody round it to journey at 15 miles per hour.
It was the final day of early voting in Texas, and the bus was scheduled to cease in San Marcos for an occasion at Texas State University.
The occasion was canceled after Davis and the opposite passengers on the bus (a marketing campaign staffer and the motive force) repeatedly known as 911 requesting a police escort by San Marcos, however no assist arrived.
Davis testified that she felt scared and anxious all through the ordeal. “I really feel like they had been having enjoyable scaring us,” she testified. “It’s traumatic for all of us to relive that day.”
