AUSTIN – A federal trial is set to begin Monday over claims that supporters of former President Donald Trump threatened and harassed a Biden-Harris campaign bus in Texas four years ago, disrupting the campaign on the last day of early voting.

Democrats on the bus said they feared for their lives as Trump supporters in dozens of trucks and cars nearly caused collisions, harassing their convoy for more than 90 minutes, hitting a Biden-Harris campaign staffer’s car and forcing the bus driver to repeatedly swerve for safety.

“For at least 90 minutes, defendants terrorized and menaced the driver and passengers,” the lawsuit alleges. “They played a madcap game of highway ‘chicken’ coming within three to four inches of the bus. They tried to run the bus off the road.”

The highway confrontation prompted an FBI investigation, which led then-President Trump to declare that in his opinion, “these patriots did nothing wrong.”

Among those suing is former Texas state senator from Fort Worth and Democratic nominee for governor Wendy Davis, who was on the bus that day. Davis rose to prominence in 2013 with her 13-hour filibuster of an anti-abortion bill in the state Capitol. The other three plaintiffs are a campaign volunteer, staffer and the bus driver.

Videos of the confrontation on Oct. 30, 2020, that were shared on social media, including some recorded by the Trump supporters, show a group of cars and pickup trucks — many adorned with large Trump flags — riding alongside the campaign bus as it traveled on I-35 from San Antonio to Austin. The Trump supporters at times boxed in the bus, slowed it down, kept it from exiting the highway and repeatedly forced the bus driver to make evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, the lawsuit says.

On the two previous days, Biden-Harris supporters were subjected to death threats, with some Trump supporters displaying weapons, according to the lawsuit. These threats in combination with the highway confrontation led Democrats to cancel an event later in the day.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, accuses the six defendants of violating the “Ku Klux Klan Act,” an 1871 federal law to stop political violence and intimidation tactics. It alleges the defendants were members of local groups near San Antonio that coordinated the confrontation.

The same law was used in part to indict Trump on federal election interference charges over attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Enacted by Congress during the Reconstruction Era, the law was created to protect Black men’s right to vote by prohibiting political violence.

Francisco Canseco, an attorney for three of the defendants, said his clients acted lawfully and did not infringe on the free speech rights of those on the bus.

“It’s more of a constitutional issue,” Canseco said. “It’s more of who has the greater right to speak behind their candidate.”

Judge Robert Pitman, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is set to preside over the trial. He denied the defendants’ pretrial motion for a summary judgment in their favor, ruling last month that the KKK Act prohibits the physical intimidation of people traveling to political rallies, even when racial bias isn’t a factor.

While one of the defendants, Eliazar Cisneros, argued his group had a First Amendment right to demonstrate support for their candidate, the judge wrote that “assaulting, intimidating, or imminently threatening others with force is not protected expression.”

“Just as the First Amendment does not protect a driver waving a political flag from running a red light, it does not protect Defendants from allegedly threatening Plaintiffs with reckless driving,” Pitman wrote.

A prior lawsuit filed over the “Trump Train” alleged the San Marcos Police Department violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by failing to send a police escort after multiple 911 calls were made and a bus rider said his life was threatened. It accused officers of privately laughing and joking about the emergency calls. San Marcos settled the lawsuit in 2023 for $175,000 and a requirement that law enforcement get training on responding to political violence.

AUSTIN, Texas – Most of Austin enjoyed the break from 100-degree weather Sunday, but a couple of hundred others decided to sweat it out at the return of the annual Hot Sauce Festival.

“Normally, it’s a scorcher, but I have to say we got really lucky today,” said Sarah Wolf. “I think it’s the coolest weather we’ve had in the history of the Hot Sauce Festival.”

For hot sauce lovers, it only makes sense to kick the heat back up a notch

“It’s got 1 percent reaper pepper,” said Boerne Brand Hot Sauce.

“Oh wow, yeah, that’s bold,” said Adrian Leal, one of the many hot saucers fans at Far Out Lounge and Stage Sunday. “I would say definitely smokey, tasty.”

The Hot Sauce Fest brought makers from all over Texas, and even a few from out of state, like Eddie Stankiewicz, who owns Stanky Sauce in Orlando.

“Historically, my favorite is my pineapple habanero ghost pepper sauce,” said Stankiewicz.

This is his 3rd year at the festival.

“The spice community in Texas, in general, is huge, it’s one of our most shipped-to states in the country,” said Stankiewicz.

But for others, it’s their very first time. Lisa and Bob Jansen moved here a year ago and were excited to finally attend.

“I liked the peach habanero, and the other one was great too,” said Lisa Jansen.

“I like the various flavors here behind the hot sauce,” said Bob Jansen. “They were really good. We’re gonna come back and probably get some of these.”

Every ticket spreads some love to the Central Texas Food Bank.

sauce

“It’s just an ideal fit for a foodie fest like the hot sauce festival, and so we love this partnership with them,” said Wolf.

Wolf, with the Austin Chronicle, said Hot Sauce Fest is one of their largest fundraisers for the food bank.

Since its start, it’s helped provide a sizzling 1.25 million meals.

“Being able to come to someone else’s community and help them, you know, give back that’s a pleasure, it’s an honor for us,” said Stankiewicz.

It’s a cause certainly worth taking the heat for.

“You see that they really like to push themselves to try new sauces, you see friends egg each other on when trying like the Carolina Reapers or the ghost pepper sauces,” said Wolf. It’s just fun to see people’s reactions. That’s why these shows are so popular where you eat spicy things right? It’s just really good people-watching.” 

Texas’ dominant performance over Michigan could have been even better had the offense managed its penalty game.

In the first quarter of Saturday’s 31-12 win in Ann Arbor, the Longhorns were forced to stop play on the second play of the game due to a false start. It had seemed like the Big House energy was playing a part in the Horns’ early moves. Texas finally made it to the end zone as quarterback Quinn Ewers found DeAndre Moore for a 24-yard touchdown, but once again the move was nullified due to a flag on a holding penalty from Cam Williams.

Though the penalties became a mute point in what was a dominant win for Texas, the penalty problems for Williams were notable.

“We were doing a couple things with motions and shifts in there, and we were kind of sitting at the line of scrimmage, and Cam got a little antsy,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. … “I gave him a big hug, and then DJ Campbell got jealous, so I had to give him a hug, and then Jake (Majors), and then Hayden (Conner) and then Kelvin (Banks Jr.). I had to give all the linemen a hug before the second series to calm everybody down.

Despite several self-inflicted penalties, Texas went into the second half leading 24-3.

The question is how much better could the Longhorns have played without the holds and false starts? Heading into the SEC and playing more high-ranked teams, they can’t risk missing potential touchdowns over these mistakes. The biggest takeaway, however, was the ability to recompose. Even after the mistakes happened, the offensive line stayed steady in the run game and pass protection, and was ultimately the deciding factor for the Longhorns’ statement win.

“You get three penalties in one drive,” Sarkisian said. “I’ve seen a lot of guys melt, but I thought (Williams) stood strong. He got himself recomposed and played a good football game.”