Judge reprimands San Marcos for purging records related to 'Trump Train' lawsuit

A federal judge has reprimanded the City of San Marcos for deleting employee phone and email records that may have been relevant to a lawsuit filed by Democratic campaign workers who allege they were harassed by a so-called "Trump Train" while traveling from San Antonio to Austin in 2020. The plaintiffs, which include former State Sen. Wendy Davis, sued San Marcos’ director of public safety and the city's marshal's department in federal court in 2021, alleging local law enforcement officials ignored phone calls from a Biden campaign bus asking for help as supporters of Donald Trump forced it nearly to a stop while it traveled Interstate 35. As the case played out in San Antonio's U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, plaintiffs asked for sanctions against San Marcos for failing to preserve relevant phone and email records for three people no longer employed there.