A federal jury in Texas cleared five of the six defendants in the 2020 "Trump Train" highway incident, Axios reported. They were accused of violating the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan Act after several supporters of former President Donald Trump surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign while in motion.
The incident occurred on a portion of I-35 between San Antonio and Austin, Texas, on Oct. 30, 2020. The caravan of Trump supporters used their vehicles to block the lanes of the highway, surround the Democrat campaign bus, and slowed it down.
The defendants claimed they were conducting a "peaceful protest" allowed under the First Amendment and "never intended to intimidate or threaten" anyone from the campaign. The nonprofit group Protect Democracy was one of several plaintiffs who sued the drivers in civil court for violating the law prohibiting voter intimidation.
However, the only person to be convicted was the Trump Train leader Eliazar Cisneros. He has been ordered to pay $10,000 in compensatory damages and $30,000 in punitive damages to the plaintiffs, including Biden's then-campaign staffer David Gins, former state Sen. Wendy Davis, and bus driver Timothy Holloway.
According to the Associated Press, the incident occurred on the last day of early voting in Texas. The bus was headed to a planned stop at Texas State University when the caravan surrounded the bus and blocked the road as everyone slowed to about 15 miles per hour.
The caravan successfully slowed down traffic, but Cisneros was the only vehicle to make contact with another. Passengers on the bus for then-candidate Joe Biden repeatedly called 911 requesting police escort.
They were forced to cancel the campaign event when those calls went unheeded. Because of the timing of the protest, attorneys for the plaintiffs charged that it amounted to voter intimidation.
The judge disagreed with that charge for five of the defendants. Attorney Francisco Canseco, who represents Cisneros, vowed that "it’s not over yet" in the fight to clear his client's name after the conviction.
Although none of the defendants were criminally charged, the ordeal was clearly unnerving to those on the bus. "I feel like they were enjoying making us afraid. It’s traumatic for all of us to revisit that day," Davis shared.
Despite one conviction, both sides called the decision Monday a victory. "We’re just ready to feel like normal people again," defendant Joeylynn Mesaros said following the verdict.
Mesaros was relieved after spending years being harassed online for her role in the incident that the case was now closed. "It’s been a thousand something days to have our day in court," she added.
Bus driver Holloway was satisfied with the resolution as well. "When I came to this case it was never about politics that day. I’m grateful, I’m proud of my team."
Knowing that nobody was hurt that day makes this seem like some harmless stunt. However, it could have been so much worse with so many vehicles involved, including a full-sized bus.
It's great that Trump has the most loyal followers who will stop at nothing to see their favorite president in the White House. However, using these sorts of unsafe intimidation tactics is counterproductive to that mission.
