Trump says supporters who surrounded Biden bus ‘did nothing wrong’
No one was hurt in the incident, but three Biden campaign events were canceled in Texas, citing safety concerns.
President Donald Trump is praising the “Trump train” of supporters who surrounded a Biden bus this weekend in Texas.
In a tweet on Sunday night, Trump wrote, “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong. Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!”
Trump was responding to a tweet from journalist Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman, who tweeted a statement from the FBI San Antonio office that they are “investigating” the incident.
The moment in question occurred Friday, when nearly 100 trucks outfitted with Trump campaign flags surrounded the Biden-Harris campaign bus, which was headed from San Antonio to Austin to a campaign event supporting Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, vice presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris and other down-ticket Dems.
Eric Cervini, a Biden campaign volunteer, said that he called 911 as the incident occurred. He tweeted his experience, saying, “These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road. They outnumbered police 50-1, and they ended up hitting a staffer’s car.”
According to Cervini, “The police refused to help. When I flagged down one officer, he said his hands were tied: ‘not my jurisdiction.’ He was wearing a blue stripe bandana.”
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The blue stripe bandana is a symbol of “Blue Lives Matter,” a movement that arose in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In addition to the president, other Republicans also praised the caravan.
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Senator Marco Rubio spoke to a large crowd in his state of Florida, where he said, “I saw yesterday a video of these people in Texas. Did you see it? All the cars on the road, we love what they did.”
Naomi Narvaiz, a member of the Texas GOP, also tweeted her support of the drivers’ actions. “We sent the @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris bus out of Hays!” she contended. “Your kind aren’t welcome here! This is #TrumpCountry.”
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No one was injured in the incident, but three Biden campaign events were subsequently canceled in Texas, citing safety concerns.
Tariq Thowfeek, communications director for the Biden campaign, told CNN that “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 today instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters and others in harm’s way.”
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Other Democrats pointed to the two recent incidents in which Trump supporters were left in freezing temperatures after Trump buses failed to pick them up after rallies.
Biden spokesperson Bill Russo mentioned the occurrences on Twitter, saying, “For the second time in a week your campaign has left your supporters stranded in the cold with no transportation at one of your superspreader rallies.”
Added Russo: “Maybe you should spend more time worried about those buses than ours.”
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