Trial Begins Over ‘Trump Train’ Encounter With 2020 Biden Campaign Bus

Days before the 2020 election, supporters of President Donald J. Trump driving in vehicles festooned with flags as part of a so-called “Trump Train” surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus as it sped along a Texas interstate highway.

Images of the impromptu convoy of antagonists were memorable: a large bus decorated like a Biden campaign sign and, all around it, dozens of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles with pro-Trump banners waving. Photos and videos provided a visual preview of the kinds of political confrontations that would culminate months later with an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Now those same images from Interstate 35 will be used as evidence in a federal civil trial that seeks to hold the Trump supporters responsible for assault and political intimidation tactics. Opening arguments begin on Monday.

The plaintiffs in the case include Wendy Davis, a former Texas State Senator, and members of the 2020 Biden presidential campaign, along with the driver of the bus. They have argued that the Trump supporters drove recklessly and dangerously, slowing at times to as little as 15 or 20 miles per hour, and tried to force the bus off the road. They said some of those in the caravan appeared to believe that Kamala Harris, then a U.S. senator and candidate for vice president, might be aboard, though she was not. There was one collision between vehicles, but no one was hurt.

The trial, which was expected to last two or three weeks, comes in the midst of a presidential campaign in which Mr. Trump is again the Republican candidate and Vice President Harris is at the top of the Democratic ticket. Fears of political intimidation and potential violence have only intensified, particularly after the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump at a rally in July.

“The Trump Train began harassing the bus by surrounding it, forcing it to slow down, honking, yelling and making hand gestures,” the plaintiffs argued in their complaint. Later, they said, one of the trucks intentionally collided with a Biden-Harris campaign staff member’s sport utility vehicle as it was following the bus.

Because of what happened on the highway, the campaign canceled the political events it had planned to hold in Austin later that day over safety concerns, the lawsuit said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs have argued that in organizing to harass and intimidate the campaign bus, the defendants violated state law and the federal Enforcement Act of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. The act, passed in response to racial and political violence, in part bars groups of two or more from conspiring “to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner” to a candidate for president.

The defendants are a half dozen of the participants in what they saw as a rolling protest, one of many such “Trump Train” gatherings across the country that were organized mostly on social media by groups of Mr. Trump’s supporters during his first re-election run.

They have argued that their actions in driving alongside the bus in protest were protected by the First Amendment. They have denied driving recklessly and argued that the campaign staff member initiated the collision. They had sought to have the case dismissed before trial, arguing that the 1871 law did not apply in their case, but U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman denied that motion.

“While the First Amendment protects forms of political advocacy, the facts of this case go well beyond protected expressive conduct,” Judge Pitman wrote in his order last month. “A jury could reasonably find that Defendants unlawfully conspired and drove in a dangerous manner such that they threatened or assaulted Plaintiffs.”

The encounter between the Biden-Harris bus and Trump supporters took place on Oct. 30, 2020 — the last day of early voting in Texas during that election — and stretched on for much of an 80-mile trip between San Antonio and Austin. A campaign staff member in a sport utility vehicle was also accompanying the bus.

At times, the bus was escorted by local police. But at other times, such as when it passed through San Marcos, about 30 miles southwest of Austin, it had no police escort, despite calls to 911 from inside the bus asking for help.

It was during those times, when no police officers accompanied the bus, the plaintiffs said in their complaint, that the Trump supporters drove in an aggressive and threatening manner.

A separate case that was brought by the plaintiffs against the local law enforcement officials in the city of San Marcos who did not respond was settled last year. The $175,000 settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing but said the city’s police response “did not reflect the department’s high standards for conduct” and agreed to mandatory training for officers.

The plaintiffs have been represented by lawyers from the Texas Civil Rights Project, the law firm Willkie Farr and Gallagher and a nonpartisan group, Protect Democracy, which describes its mission as defeating “the authoritarian threat.”

“Every American has the fundamental right to participate in the democratic process and to support the candidates of their choosing free from fear, intimidation or violence,” Christina Beeler, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement.

Jerad Najvar, a lawyer representing two of the defendants, Joeylynn and Robert Mesaros, said that the case was “ironic.”

“While the plaintiffs argue they were intimidated by the Trump Train, in fact, this lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to silence political opponents,” said Mr. Najvar. “It is an abuse of the judicial system.”

Lawyers for the other defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

Francisco Canseco, a lawyer for one of the defendants, Eliazar Cisneros, said in legal filings that his client denied sideswiping the campaign sport utility vehicle and that the defendant was the one who was sideswiped by the campaign vehicle, which he said tried to drive the defendant off the road.

Two people who were originally named in the suit settled last year were dismissed from the case. They each released statements of contrition.

“After the Biden campaign abandoned the rest of their bus tour, I sent a text saying that ‘we canceled them,’ as at the time I felt we had succeeded in our efforts to send a message,” Hannah Ceh, who was a passenger in one of the pickup trucks, said in her statement.

“Looking back, I would have done things differently,” she added. “I apologize to the occupants of the bus for my part in actions that day that frightened or intimidated them.”

Her parents, Steve and Randi Ceh, did not settle and remain defendants in the suit.

Outside the courthouse on Monday morning, a small group of supporters of the defendants waited to enter the building and attend the hearing.

Shelly Grunden, a friend of Joeylynn Mesaros, said she woke before dawn and drove to Austin from San Antonio to show support.

Ms. Grunden said she met Ms. Mesaros because both were involved in conservative political circles.

“I feel like they’re using her as an example, like they did with Trump,” Ms. Gruden said of Ms. Mesaros, adding that she considered the actions of those in the Trump Train to be protected speech.

She said the expensive legal process had taken a toll on the Mesaros family, and that she hoped they would prevail in the trial. “Karma is going to come around,” Ms. Grunden said. “God doesn’t take kindly to evil.”