Jury finds only one of six Trump supporters sued in civil case liable for harassing Biden campaign bus in 2020

(CNN) — A federal jury on Monday found only one of six Trump supporters sued in a civil case liable for harassing a Biden-Harris campaign bus nearly four years ago on a Texas highway. The civil case has tested a law that victims of political intimidation can use to try to hold others accountable.

The trial, in the Austin, Texas, US District Court, throughout this month recreated for the jury the events around an October 2020 “Trump Train” – a caravan of cars and trucks driven by Trump supporters that slowed the Biden-Harris campaign bus to crawl. The jury awarded the bus driver $10,000, according to the final verdict form.

The “Trump Train” activity also left a Biden campaign staffer’s SUV damaged after one of the Trump supporters side-swiped it, according to the court record. That Trump supporter, Eliazar Cisneros, was found to be liable for a federal civil rights conspiracy violation. The jury fined him $30,000 as punishment.

In addition to his actions in Texas, Cisneros testified that he helped to bring batons and bear mace to the January 6 Capitol riot in Washington to allegedly protect against leftist groups Antifa and Black Lives Matter. In a deposition, he also admitted he drove his truck into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in September 2020 in San Antonio, “just to make a statement,” according to the court record.

The jury didn’t find any of the other five defendants from the “Trump Train” liable. None of the six face any criminal charges.

The plaintiffs in the case include the bus driver, a campaign state director and Wendy Davis, a former Texas state senator who was on the Biden-Harris bus as a political surrogate and testified about the trauma of the incident.

In a statement following the verdict, the bus driver, Tim Holloway, said he was “relieved” to put the case behind him.

“I can appreciate that people have strong opinions, but we have to be able to express our views peacefully. Today’s verdict is a very good outcome. I hope this case discourages people from doing things in the name of politics that endanger lives, and I’m glad that there are legal consequences for perpetrators of threats and intimidation,” Holloway said.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys showed jurors flyers the group disseminated and conversations they had about blocking the Biden bus before their trucks boxed it in while waiving Trump flags. The jury also heard 911 calls from bystanders who were fearful of car crashes that could result from the caravan.

The case marks one of the few times Trump supporters’ conduct has gone to civil trial under a post-Civil War law commonly called the “Ku Klux Klan Act,” which is intended to protect people engaged in politics from harassment or even outright assault.

The case, from in-depth rulings by the judge to the jury’s verdict, and even with its mixed result, could ​be used as a road map for courts in the future weighing KKK Act claims, especially in challenges seeking to punish Trump supporters, people familiar with the Texas case say.

The jury was focused on the facts of the case, and a federal judge earlier decided that the allegations of the “Trump Train” harassment were able to be considered serious political intimidation under the federal law.

“Although the methods of political intimidation may change over time and require adapting the Klan Act to new contexts, the conduct alleged here requires no such adaption; the Defendants’ alleged conduct is similar to a type of political violence that the Klan engaged in at the time of the Act’s enactment,” Judge Robert Pitman of the US District Court in Western Texas wrote in August.

The defendants argued that they never intended to intimidate or threaten the Biden-Harris campaign, and that they were taking part in their own peaceful protest for Trump that was protected speech.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
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