Current:Home > ContactTrial begins over Texas ‘Trump Train’ highway confrontation -Global Capital Summit
Trial begins over Texas ‘Trump Train’ highway confrontation
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:03:50
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal trial is set to begin Monday over claims that supporters of former President Donald Trump threatened and harassed a Biden-Harris campaign bus in Texas four years ago, disrupting the campaign on the last day of early voting.
The civil trial over the so-called “Trump Train” comes as Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris race into the final two months of their head-to-head fight for the White House in November.
Democrats on the bus said they feared for their lives as Trump supporters in dozens of trucks and cars nearly caused collisions, harassing their convoy for more than 90 minutes, hitting a Biden-Harris campaign staffer’s car and forcing the bus driver to repeatedly swerve for safety.
“For at least 90 minutes, defendants terrorized and menaced the driver and passengers,” the lawsuit alleges. “They played a madcap game of highway ‘chicken’ coming within three to four inches of the bus. They tried to run the bus off the road.”
The highway confrontation prompted an FBI investigation, which led then-President Trump to declare that in his opinion, “these patriots did nothing wrong.”
Among those suing is former Texas state senator and Democratic nominee for governor Wendy Davis, who was on the bus that day. Davis rose to prominence in 2013 with her 13-hour filibuster of an anti-abortion bill in the state Capitol. The other three plaintiffs are a campaign volunteer, staffer and the bus driver.
The lawsuit names six defendants, accusing them of violating the “Ku Klux Klan Act,” an 1871 federal law to stop political violence and intimidation tactics.
The same law was used in part to indict Trump on federal election interference charges over attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Enacted by Congress during the Reconstruction Era, the law was created to protect Black men’s right to vote by prohibiting political violence.
Videos of the confrontation on Oct. 30, 2020, that were shared on social media, including some recorded by the Trump supporters, show a group of cars and pickup trucks — many adorned with large Trump flags — riding alongside the campaign bus as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin. The Trump supporters at times boxed in the bus, slowed it down, kept it from exiting the highway and repeatedly forced the bus driver to make evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, the lawsuit says.
On the two previous days, Biden-Harris supporters were subjected to death threats, with some Trump supporters displaying weapons, according to the lawsuit. These threats in combination with the highway confrontation led Democrats to cancel an event later in the day.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, alleges the defendants were members of local groups near San Antonio that coordinated the confrontation.
Francisco Canseco, an attorney for three of the defendants, said his clients acted lawfully and did not infringe on the free speech rights of those on the bus.
“It’s more of a constitutional issue,” Canseco said. “It’s more of who has the greater right to speak behind their candidate.”
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
Judge Robert Pitman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is set to preside over Monday’s trial. He denied the defendants’ pretrial motion for a summary judgment in their favor, ruling last month that the KKK Act prohibits the physical intimidation of people traveling to political rallies, even when racial bias isn’t a factor.
While one of the defendants, Eliazar Cisneros, argued his group had a First Amendment right to demonstrate support for their candidate, the judge wrote that “assaulting, intimidating, or imminently threatening others with force is not protected expression.”
“Just as the First Amendment does not protect a driver waving a political flag from running a red light, it does not protect Defendants from allegedly threatening Plaintiffs with reckless driving,” Pitman wrote.
A prior lawsuit filed over the “Trump Train” alleged the San Marcos Police Department violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by failing to send a police escort after multiple 911 calls were made and a bus rider said his life was threatened. It accused officers of privately laughing and joking about the emergency calls. San Marcos settled the lawsuit in 2023 for $175,000 and a requirement that law enforcement get training on responding to political violence.
___
Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
veryGood! (9733)
Related
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Hungary says it will provide free tickets to Brussels for migrants trying to enter the EU
- Bears’ Douglas Coleman III immobilized, taken from field on stretcher after tackle against Chiefs
- 2 freight trains collided in Colorado, damaging a bridge, spilling fuel and injuring 2 conductors
- Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
- When do cats stop growing? How to know your pet has reached its full size
- Scientists closely watching these 3 disastrous climate change scenarios
- 'Believe that': The Arizona Diamondbacks may be the best team in baseball
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- See George Clooney’s memorable moments at Venice Film Festival as actor prepares to return
Ranking
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Nine MLB contenders most crushed by injuries with pennant race heating up
- Only Murders in the Building's Steve Martin Shares How Selena Gomez Has Grown Over the Past 4 Years
- Why Christina Applegate Is Giving a “Disclaimer” to Friends Amid Multiple Sclerosis Battle
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Seattle Mariners fire manager Scott Servais in midst of midseason collapse, according to report
- Delaware State travel issues, explained: What to know about situation, game and more
- A dreaded, tree-killing beetle has reached North Dakota
Recommendation
Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
Judges dismiss suit alleging Tennessee’s political maps discriminate against communities of color
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage eases to 6.46%, the lowest level in 15 months
Bachelor Nation's Tia Booth Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby No. 2 With Taylor Mock
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Viral DNC DJ Cassidy talks song selection, overnight acclaim: 'Amazing to see'
Woman who checked into hospital and vanished was actually in the morgue, family learns
At DNC, Gabrielle Giffords joins survivors of gun violence and families of those killed in shootings