Jury deliberations begin in civil trial over 'Trump Train' encounter with Biden-Harris bus in Texas

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico/AP

09/20/2024 08:47 PM EDT


AUSTIN, Texas — A jury in Texas began to deliberate Friday whether the so-called “Trump Train” that surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus days before the 2020 election in a heated highway encounter amounted to political intimidation. “This case is not about politics,” Robert Meyer, an attorney representing those aboard the bus, told the jury. “It’s about safety.”

The civil trial has spanned two weeks in a federal courthouse in Austin has included testimony from former Texas Democratic lawmaker Wendy Davis, who ran for governor in 2014, and is one of three people who was on board the bus and brought the lawsuit against six supporters of former President Donald Trump.

No criminal charges have been filed against the Trump supporters, who have argued that their actions during the convoy on Oct. 30, 2020, were protected speech.

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.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/20/jury-deliberations-trial-trump-train-biden-harris-bus-texas-00180352

[Oopsie Daisy]

1. The idiots probably thought that Biden and Harris were both passengers inside the bus.

[70sEraVet]

2. I hope justice is served in this lawsuit, but ... why no federal charges?

This seems to be no different than KKK threatening the Freedom Riders in the early '60s?

[RainCaster]

4. Because... TX

I'm surprised that this ever got to a jury, given the large number of RW judges in TX courts.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. It's in federal court, not state court

[RainCaster]

8. That makes sense

Thanks for the extra information, BRDS.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. I had to dig

because most of the articles have been vague about it although I have been loosely following this story.

It seems they are doing some of this almost like a template test case because apparently this type of thing has happened before.

It's probably a fuzzy issue too because of the burden of proof that might be needed to go criminal vs civil. E.g., if someone among those hoodlums had pointed a gun at the bus in a threatening manner, then that might have elevated it to the next level.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. This IS a federal trial (civil)

Near the bottom of the OP article -

The trial began with plaintiffs’ attorneys saying that organizers targeted the bus in a calculated attack to intimidate the Democrats, arguing that it violated the “Ku Klux Klan Act,” an 1871 federal law that bans political violence and intimidation.

The City of 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.

And from here - https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/trump-train-texas-trial-begins/

Judge Robert Pitman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is set to preside over the 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.

[catrose]

3. And they called the police in San Marcos for help, who laughed at them

[BumRushDaShow]

10. The group sued the city and settled with them for $175,000

and a requirement that they must give their police "political violence" training.

[PedroXimenez]

5. i never understood why it's not criminal

not only reckless driving but deliberately hitting the car while on the highway.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. If no one chooses to file charges for a criminal violation

then it wouldn't go anywhere. The city and police were sued for ignoring it (and settled with these individuals).

It's possible too that this is a test case for future incidents and how to handle in the courts since there is a ridiculous claim by the perps that their intimidation and reckless driving is protected by the "First Amendment".