Trump contradicts the FBI, denying a probe into his supporters swarming a Biden bus.
President Donald Trump on Monday denied that the FBI was investigating an incident Friday in which his supporters swarmed and followed a Biden campaign bus in Texas, contradicting a statement from the agency.
The confrontation was captured inmultiple videos posted to social media, and one clip showed a truck waving a Trump flag making contact with a vehicle reported to be a support car for the Biden bus. The Biden campaign later canceled two events, one in San Marcos and another in Austin, citing safety concerns from the Trump supporters.
On Sunday, the bureau released a short statement saying it was “aware of the incident and investigating.” Trump, who originally praised his supporters for surrounding the bus,
tweeted Monday that no such investigation was taking place.
“This story is FALSE,” he wrote. “They did nothing wrong. But the ANTIFA Anarchists, Rioters and Looters, who have caused so much harm and destruction in Democrat run cities, are being seriously looked at!”
An FBI spokeswoman in SanAntonio said therewere no updates to the agency’s previous statement.
The confrontation began Friday afternoon along Interstate 35 inNew Braunfels and continued into Hays County, as the bus traveled north. Neither Biden nor his running mate, Sen. KamalaHarris, were onboard. Texas congressional candidate and former state Sen. Wendy Davis was on board, according to the Texas Tribune, which first reported the FBI investigation, but a Davis campaign spokesman reached Sunday would not confirm it.
The bus had been travel
ing through South Texas since Wednesday, and had planned to arrive in downtown Austin for an event at the AFL-CIO. In the videos posted online, several cars and trucks could be seen pulling alongside and in front of the bus, trying to box it in.
No accidents were reported in New Braunfels, and police there “did not observe any traffic violations” when responding to several calls about the vehicles around 3:15 p.m., the city manager’s office said in a prepared statement.
The statement said officers notified other law enforcement agencies as the procession headed north, one of which was the San Marcos Police Department, which confirmed in a statement to the SanMarcos Daily Record that the contact between the two vehicles happened in that city.