Texas jury clears most 'Trump Train' drivers over 2020 bus encounter

A federal jury in Texas on Monday cleared a group of former President Donald Trump supporters and found one driver liable in a civil trial over a so-called Trump Train that surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus days before the 2020 election.

The two-week trial in a federal courthouse in Austin centred on whether the actions of the Trump Train participants amounted to political intimidation. Among those aboard the bus was former Democratic lawmaker Wendy Davis, who testified she feared for her life while a convoy of Trump supporters boxed in the bus along Interstate 35.

The jury awarded USD 10,000 to the bus driver.

No criminal charges were filed against the six Trump supporters who were sued by Davis and two others aboard the bus. Civil rights advocates hoped a guilty verdict would send a clear message about what constitutes political violence and intimidation.

On October 20, 2020, a Biden-Harris campaign bus was travelling from San Antonio to Austin for an event when a group of c