Biden staff call 911 after bus swarmed by Trump supporters
AUSTIN, Texas–A caravan of vehicles displaying Trump campaign flags and signs swarmed a Bid en campaign bus between San Antonio and Austin on Friday afternoon, leading the Democrats on board to call 911 and cancel the Austin close of their “Battle for the Soul of the Nation” tour.
According to the Biden campaign, t he vehicles surrounded the bus, trying to slow it down in the middle of the highway or run it off the road. Biden staff notified 911 and local law enforcement, and, they reported, local law enforcement helped the bus to reach its Austin destination.
Neither Former Vice President Joe Biden nor California Sen. Kamala Harris were on the bus, CNN reports.
“Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm' s way ,” Tariq Thowfeek, Texas communications director of the Biden campaign, said in a statement Saturday.
No one was injured. No one was arrested. It is evident on a video of t he i ncident t hat t here was a glancing but obvious c ontact bet ween a black Trump pickup and a white c a r a pparently being driven behind the bus by a Biden campaign s t a f f e r , b u t n o a p p a r - ent serious or disabling damage.
On Sat ur day, Trump s hared an e di t e d vi deo that appears to be of the incident, tweeting “I love Texas!” in all caps.
The incident occurred in the midst on the biggest day of t he presi dential campaign yet f or Texas Democrats as Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris spent a f ul l day campaigning i n t h e s t a t e , wh i c h i s now viewed as a tossup i n Tues d a y ' s e l e c t i o n . Harris made appearances i n Fort Worth, McAllen and Houston.
T h e s t a t e p a r t y a n d the Biden campaign did not s eek t o draw much
attention to the highway encounter between t he B i d e n - Ha r r i s b u s a n d one of t he car caravans of Trump supporters that have come to be known as Trump Trains.
B u t o t h e r o b s e r v e r s sought to draw attention to what they considered a p o t e n t i a l l y p e r i l o u s situation. They included Dr. Eric Cervini, a hist orian and author f r om Los Angeles who came to Texas to help the Biden campaign.
C e r v i n i w a s o n t h e scene and posted video a nd a s e r i e s of t weets, describing t he event as an “ambush” by armed T r u m p s u p p o r t e r s i n p i c k u p t r u c k s w i t h Trump f l ags seeking t o run the Biden bus off the road
“T h e y o u t n u m - ber e d pol i c e 5 0- 1 , a nd they ended up hitting a s t a f f e r ' s c a r , ” Cer v i n i tweeted.