President Donald Trump on Sunday excused the actions of his supporters who surrounded a Biden campaign bus and — in the words of one Biden campaign staffer — attempted to run the bus off the road.
In a Sunday evening tweet, Trump called his supporters who surrounded the bus "patriots" and said they did "nothing wrong."
Trump's tweet came hours after the FBI's branch in San Antonio said it was investigating the incident. Trump also said that the agency and the Department of Justice should instead investigate antifa and other left-wing agitators.
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! https://t.co/of6Lna3HMU
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2020
Despite the FBI's confirmation that it is investigating, Trump deemed the story "false" in a Monda morning tweet, and again insisted that his supporters did "nothing wrong."
This story is FALSE. 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! https://t.co/3pmbMllPWS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2020
The incident occurred on Friday, as the Biden campaign bus was traveling to an event in the Houston area. Though Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden nor his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, were aboard the bus, Texas congressional candidate Wendy Davis was on board.
The Texas Tribune reports that dozens of vehicles — as many as 50, many of them flying Trump campaign flags — lined I-35 waiting for the bus to arrive. As soon as the bus began passing, videoes show the cars surrounded the bus.
I flew down to Texas to help with the Biden/Harris bus tour, intended to drum up enthusiasm at polling locations. Instead, I ended up spending the afternoon calling 911. 1/ pic.twitter.com/gKAjv7gv85
— Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020
Several Biden staffers called 911 to report the incident. At least one Biden staffer said on Twitter that he believed the Trump supporters were attempting to run the bus off the road.
That Biden staffer also claimed that police "refused to help." The Texas Tribune reports that police in New Braunfels provided an escort to the bus through the city, and that Trump supporters "fell back behind the police" during the escort.
The event was ultimately canceled.
Officials with the Texas Republican party denied to the Texas Tribune that any Trump supporters were "being aggressive" during the incident on Friday. At least one video shows a collision between a car with a Trump flag and a second car following the bus.
According to The Washington Post, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, also offered support to those Trump supporters at a rally on Sunday.
"I saw yesterday a video of these people in Texas," Rubio said at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport. "Did you see it? All the cars on the road, we love what they did."
