A federal jury in Texas on Monday cleared a group of 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 AP reports. The jury awarded $10,000 to the bus driver.
The jury found a San Antonio man who helped organize the convoy liable for $40,000 in damages and cleared the other five defendants, the New York Times reports. No criminal charges were filed against the Trump supporters who were sued by Davis and two others aboard the bus. Civil rights advocates hoped a 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 15mph 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.
Two convoy members who apologized for their actions were removed from the lawsuit as part of a settlement last year.
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