According to Dallas Metro, a Dallas County news site, two of the eight defendants involved in the “Trump train” incident have agreed to settle the case against them for intimidating Biden campaign employees before the 2020 election. On Thursday, attorneys for the plaintiffs officially acknowledged the settlement.
Attorneys for former state senator Wendy Davis and three others have asked a judge to drop all charges against Kyle Kruger and Hannah Ceh. Davis and the two other litigants were passengers on a Biden campaign bus purportedly surrounded by Trump supporters in their cars.
The trial against the other six defendants will begin in April 2024.
Protect Democracy, a group supporting the plaintiffs has indicated that both Ceh and Kruger have made official apologies for their role in the event; however, the particular conditions of the settlement are subject to a nondisclosure order. In a formal news statement, the organization made the announcement.
In addition to monetary damages, the complaint requests a ruling that the Trump supporters who surrounded the bus violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to participate in the democratic process freely. The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 is a federal law forbidding political violence and voter intimidation in elections.
Videos of protesters in vehicles flying Trump flags encircling the Biden bus on I-35 between San Antonio and Austin went viral, bringing national attention to the tense occasion. The trucks nearly brought the bus to a complete stop, and the film shows at least one minor accident.
Three Democratic campaign events in Central Texas were canceled after the disturbing encounter. The complaint names Randi Ceh and Steve Ceh, the parents of defendant Hannah Ceh, as the organizers of the New Braunfels “Trump train.”
According to posts on her social media profiles, Ceh’s fiancee Kyle Kruger is also mentioned in the lawsuit.
“In retrospect, there are several things I would change. I apologize to the people on the bus who I may have scared or intimidated that day; I do not believe I was giving the situation my full attention at the time”, Hannah Ceh said.
Kruger admitted in his letter of remorse that his driving had been “risky.”
At the time, he and the other Trump Train members were pleased that, as a result of their activities, the Biden campaign canceled the remainder of the bus trip.
