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A 'Trump Train' convoy surrounded a Biden-Harris bus. Was it political violence?

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A 'Trump Train' convoy surrounded a Biden-Harris bus. Was it political violence?
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A 'Trump Train' convoy surrounded a Biden-Harris bus. Was it political violence?

2024-09-15 12:01 Last Updated At:12:11

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury will soon decide whether a convoy of supporters of then-President Donald Trump violently intimidated former Democratic lawmaker Wendy Davis and two others on a Biden-Harris campaign bus when a so-called “Trump Train” boxed them in for more than an hour on a Texas highway days before the 2020 election.

The trial, which began on Sept. 9, resumes Monday and is expected to last another week.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that six of the Trump Train drivers violated state and federal law. Lawyers for the defendants said they did not conspire against the Democrats on the bus and that their actions are protected speech.

Here's what else to know:

Dozens of cars and trucks organized by a local Trump Train group swarmed the bus on its way from San Antonio to Austin. It was the last day of early voting in Texas for the 2020 general election, and the bus was scheduled to make a stop in San Marcos for an event at Texas State University.

Video recorded by Davis shows pickup trucks with large Trump flags aggressively slowing down and boxing in the bus as it tried to move away from the Trump Train. One defendant hit a campaign volunteer's car while the trucks occupied all lanes of traffic, slowing the bus and everyone around it to a 15 mph crawl.

Those on the bus — including Davis, a campaign staffer and the driver — repeatedly called 911 asking for help and a police escort through San Marcos, but when no law enforcement arrived, the campaign canceled the event and pushed forward to Austin.

San Marcos settled a separate lawsuit filed by the same three Democrats against the police, agreeing to pay $175,000 and mandate political violence training for law enforcement.

Davis testified that she felt she was being “taken hostage” and has sought treatment for anxiety.

In the days leading up to the event, Democrats were also intimidated, harassed and received death threats, the lawsuit said.

“I feel like they were enjoying making us afraid,” Davis testified. “It's traumatic for all of us to revisit that day.”

In opening statements, an attorney for the plaintiffs said convoy organizers targeted the bus in a calculated attack to intimidate the Democrats in violation of the “Ku Klux Klan Act,” an 1871 federal law that bans political violence and intimidation.

"We're here because of actions that put people's lives in danger,” said Samuel Hall, an attorney with the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. The plaintiffs, he said, were “literally driven out of town by a swarm of trucks.”

The six Trump Train drivers succeeded in making the campaign cancel its remaining events in Texas in a war they believed was “between good and evil," Hall said.

Two nonprofit advocacy groups, Texas Civil Rights Project and Protect Democracy, also are representing the three plaintiffs.

Attorneys for the defendants, who are accused of driving and organizing the convoy, said they did not conspire to swarm the Democrats on the bus, which could have exited the highway at any point.

“This was a political rally. This was not some conspiracy to intimidate people,” said attorney Jason Greaves, who is representing two of the drivers.

The defense also argued that their clients' actions were protected speech and that the trial is a concerted effort to “drain conservatives of their money,” according to Francisco Canseco, a lawyer for three of the defendants.

“It was a rah-rah group that sought to support and advocate for a candidate of their choice in a very loud way,” Canseco said during opening statements.

The defense lost a bid last month to have the case ruled in their favor without a trial. The judge wrote that “assaulting, intimidating, or imminently threatening others with force is not protected expression.”

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.

FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., ride on a bus in Phoenix, Oct. 8, 2020, on a small business bus tour. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., ride on a bus in Phoenix, Oct. 8, 2020, on a small business bus tour. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA teamed up with the World Health Organization on Wednesday for a campaign to educate the soccer industry about the risks of concussion injuries.

“Concussion is a public health issue of concern at all levels of football, and many other sports, requiring greater levels of awareness and action,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

Ten years after the alarming case in the 2014 World Cup final of Germany player Christoph Kramer, world soccer governing body FIFA is sending a toolkit to each of its 211 national federations to help teach at all levels of soccer that symptoms of a head injury can take up to 72 hours to appear.

Kramer continued to play in the final against Argentina for 14 minutes after being injured despite being in clear distress. Match referee Nicola Rizzoli later said he alerted Germany players after Kramer asked if he was playing in the final.

At the 2022 World Cup, Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand was treated for several minutes on the field after clashing heads with a teammate, then continued to play on against England before finally being replaced.

FIFA favors letting teams make an extra substitution to remove immediately a player with a suspected head injury. That lets team medical staff evaluate injuries at length without the pressure of trying to send players back into the game.

At soccer’s rules-making panel, known as IFAB, FIFA has consistently blocked proposals to allow temporary substitutions that would let injured players with a suspected concussion be assessed just for several minutes before potentially returning to the game. FIFA medical advice is that symptoms can take up to 72 hours to develop.

“The symptoms of a concussion can change or evolve within the minutes, hours, days and even weeks after the traumatic event,” FIFA said of the new “Suspect and Protect” campaign. “No match is worth the risk.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE- Iran's goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand reacts after sustaining an injury during the World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE- Iran's goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand reacts after sustaining an injury during the World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - Germany's Christoph Kramer lies on the pitch as teammate Thomas Mueller assists him, during the World Cup final soccer match between Germany and Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Francois Xavier Marit, Pool, File)

FILE - Germany's Christoph Kramer lies on the pitch as teammate Thomas Mueller assists him, during the World Cup final soccer match between Germany and Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Francois Xavier Marit, Pool, File)

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