'Trump train' federal lawsuit: Closing arguments set to begin
SAN MARCOS, Texas - A jury will soon decide whether a convoy of Trump supporters intimidated people on a Biden-Harris bus along I-35 in San Marcos back in 2020.
Former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, the bus driver, and a former campaign staffer, are suing six Trump supporters who were involved in the convoy.
The plaintiffs claim they are responsible for assault and political intimidation tactics, violating state law, and the Ku Klux Klan Act.
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"The idea is you do have a right to free speech, but you cannot use that speech to intimidate people from exercising their right to speech through voting or having campaigns and that's what the question lies. Was this an organized attempt to take away somebody else's free speech or was it people exercising their free speech?" St. Edward’s University Political Science Professor Brian Smith, Ph.D. said.
Former Senator Davis testified in federal court saying she was anxious on the bus as the Trump supporters swerved into different lanes, were brake checking the bus, and at times slowed to 15 miles per hour.
The defense attorneys argued the incident was an exercise in free speech, and they were not trying to block the bus. They said there was no conspiracy, and this case was an abuse of the judicial system.
FOX 7 Focus: Trump train settlement
In this FOX 7 Focus, FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak sits down with David Gins, one of the staffers on the Biden 2020 campaign bus that was surrounded by Trump supporters in San Marcos and Christina Beeler, an attorney for the plaintiffs, about the settlement and what message they hope it sends.
Smith said this is an issue that could play into both political bases.
"Donald Trump supporters are going to say, look, this is what we're going to see more of over the next four years, the Democrats going after us. I think Vice President Harris is going to say we need to make sure that Donald Trump doesn't win, because these are people who are very, very dangerous in their worst extremes," Smith said.
Both sides have rested their cases. Closing arguments in this federal trial will begin Friday, Sept. 20, then a jury will decide. Either way it goes, it’s almost a guarantee there’s going to be an appeal.