Civil trial begins for 'Trump Train' participants accused of harassing Biden bus in Texas

Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A civil trial seeking to hold six Texas supporters of former President Donald Trump responsible for participating in a "Trump Train" harassment of a Biden-Harris campaign bus in 2020 began Monday in Austin.

The jury trial is being held before U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, according to Monday's federal court docket of the Western District of Texas.

The trial is the result of a 2021 lawsuit filed by Wendy Davis, a former Texas state senator best known for holding an 11-hour filibuster that helped to stall the enactment of an anti-abortion bill in the Texas legislature in 2013.

She, bus driver Timothy Holloway and Biden campaign staffer David Gins are suing multiple members of the caravan, which surrounded, harassed and played "chicken" with the campaign bus on Interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio a few days before the November 2020 presidential election.

In their suit, they alleged the pro-Trump activists violated state law and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 by engaging in a conspiracy to disrupt the campaign and intimidate those on the bus. They are seeking punitive and compensatory damages as well as attorneys fees.

They claim that on Oct. 30, 2020, dozens of people in at least forty vehicles bearing flags exalting Trump formed a self-labeled vehicular "Trump Train" on I-35 with the express purpose of "terrorizing and intimidating" the Biden supporters based solely on their political viewpoints.

The goal of this effort, they claim, was to intimidate the Democrats and to stop them from efforts to rally voters for the Biden-Harris ticket.

The plaintiffs argue that the Trump Train members' driving was "intentionally aggressive" and their "premeditated" actions were motivated by a belief "that extraordinary measures were justified to ensure that Democrats were defeated in 2020." according to Pittman's order denying a bid by the defendants to dismiss the case.

Davis and the other plaintiffs claim in the suit they have endured significant psychological and emotional harm from the Trump Train. Holloway stated the trauma forced him to give up his charter bus business while Davis says she began hiring private security and has developed insomnia due to the episode.

The six defendants include Trump activists Eliazar Cisneros, Joeylynn Mesaros, Robert Mesaros, Dolores Park, Randi Ceh and Steve Ceh.

They argue their actions were constitutionally protected free speech.

Jason Greaves, who is representing the Cehs, said in a statement to the Texas Tribune that the couple looks forward "to complete vindication on the merits for exercising their God-given, and First Amendment-protected right to free expression."