Biden backers sue 'Trump Train' members, police over campaign bus
incident
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[June 25, 2021]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - Several people who were
traveling last October on a campaign bus for Democratic President Joe
Biden that was surrounded by supporters of Republican former President
Donald Trump on a Texas highway filed a pair of federal lawsuits on
Thursday over the incident.
One lawsuit, which named more than a half-dozen members of the "Trump
Train" as defendants, accused the Trump supporters of violating the Ku
Klux Klan Act, an 1871 law named after the violent white supremacist
organization and intended to prohibit groups from engaging in voter
intimidation.
The second lawsuit claims the public safety director in San Marcos,
Chase Stapp, and several unnamed local law enforcement officers failed
to provide emergency assistance as Trump backers played a "madcap game
of highway 'chicken,'" swerving within inches of the bus and sideswiping
one staffer's vehicle.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Jun/25/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
Video footage taken on Oct. 31, 2020, showed pickup trucks and SUVs
bearing Trump flags surrounding the Biden bus along Interstate 35
between San Antonio and Austin. At the time, the Biden campaign said the
caravan attempted to force the bus off the road, putting staffers and
volunteers at risk.
The incident gained national headlines when Trump tweeted video of the
incident a day later with the message, "I LOVE TEXAS!"
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![](../images/062521pics/news_m23.jpg)
People gather in the parking lot of a Tractor Supply Co. following a
parade in support of Donald Trump after the election results were
announced in Alvin, Texas, U.S., November 7, 2020. REUTERS/Callaghan
O'Hare
![](../images/ads/current/centraldirect_lda_SPONSOR_2021.png)
The FBI office in San Antonio said last November it
had opened an inquiry into the matter. A spokesperson for the agency
said on Thursday there was no update on the investigation and
declined to comment further.
A San Marcos spokesperson declined to comment on behalf of Stapp,
the city and the police department, citing pending litigation.
The plaintiffs include Wendy Davis, a former Texas state senator who
unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2014. The lawsuits were brought
by Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group whose mission is to defend
against authoritarian threats; the Texas Civil Rights Project; and
the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
The lawsuits are seeking unspecified damages.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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