United States President Donald Trump expresses his admiration for supporters who surrounded a Biden campaign bus driving on a Texas highway, in an incident being investigated by the FBI.
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Donald Trump praises supporters who surrounded Joe Biden campaign bus on Texas highway
Updated Yesterday at 2:20pm
US President Donald Trump says his supporters were attempting to "protect" the Biden campaign bus.
United States President Donald Trump has expressed admiration for supporters who surrounded a Biden campaign bus driving on a Texas highway, in an incident being investigated by the FBI.
Key points:
Mr Trump told a campaign rally his supporters were attempting to "protect" the bus
Up to 100 vehicles were in the "Trump train"
A video of the incident appears to show one of the Trump supporter's vehicles making contact with another car
It comes just two days ahead of the US election amid heightened fears of civil unrest and violence before and afterwards.
Several videos on social media show dozens of SUVs bearing Trump campaign livery and American flags crowding around the bus on its way from San Antonio to Austin on Saturday local time.
Mr Trump tweeted one of the videos saying: "I LOVE TEXAS!"
He told a campaign rally later that his supporters were trying to "protect" the bus.
"But it is something, did you see the way our people they ... you know they were protecting his bus yesterday, because they're nice," he said.
"They had hundreds of cars. Trump! Trump! Trump and the American flag."
CNN reported that people in up to 100 vehicles were in the "Trump train" with some yelling profanities and obscenities.
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One of the videos appears to show a Trump supporter's SUV making contact with another unmarked car.
The Texas Tribune newspaper reported that the sideswiped vehicle was being driven by a Biden campaign staffer.
'This is not who we are': Biden
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden addressed the incident during a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Sunday.
"Folks, this is not who we are," he said, adding that Trump supporters "tried to run [the campaign bus] off the road".
"We are so much better than this," he said.
"It's not who we are. And we gotta change it."
Mr Biden also referenced reports that Mr Trump's supporters shut down a major road in New Jersey.
"We've never had anything like this. At least we’ve never had a President who thinks it's a good thing," he said.
The FBI is looking into the incident.
"FBI San Antonio is aware of the incident and investigating," special agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in San Antonio, told Reuters in an email.
"No further information is available at this time."
Mr Trump later on Sunday retweeted a screenshot of the FBI statement and suggested the agency should stop investigating the incident.
"In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong," he said in the tweet.
"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!"
An FBI spokesperson said the bureau had no comment about the president's tweet.
Police called to escort campaign bus
The Biden campaign bus was transporting staff and Democratic candidate Wendy Davis who is running for a Texas congressional district.
A communications director for the Biden campaign in Texas, Tariq Thowfeek, told the Wall Street Journal those aboard became afraid for their safety after the bus was forced to slow down and veer out of its lane.
They called police who escorted the vehicle to its destination.
"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," Mr Thowfeek said in a statement.
Travis County Democratic Party chair Katie Naranjo said on Twitter the incident was an attempt to intimidate the Biden campaign.
Texas House member Sheryl Cole said the campaign event the bus was travelling to was cancelled.
"Unfortunately, Pro-Trump Protestors have escalated well beyond safe limits," she said on Twitter.
"Sorry to all who looked forward to this fun event."
'More fake news and propaganda'
Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told CBS News she saw a "a little bit of the Trump supporters surrounding the Biden bus".
"Certainly you don't want harm, and we shouldn't be hurting other people," Ms McDaniel said.
"So the President would not endorse that.
"But … I can't comment on that because I haven't seen the whole video."
Texas Republican Party chairman Allen West said in a statement that reporting of the incident was "more fake news and propaganda".
Mr West said the media should be more concerned about alleged violence perpetrated by "leftists from Antifa and BLM".
"Prepare to lose… stop bothering me," he said.
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A former head of the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Russ Travers, recently warned political violence could "spin out of control" in the days leading up to the US presidential election, potentially resulting in "a lot of people getting killed".
Mr Travers said Mr Trump's ongoing rhetoric about the potential for a "rigged" election could lead to mass casualties if the President lost.
"I fear there are a lot of people out there with very warped views of reality and a lot of guns who could willingly take up their weapons in defence of what they believe is the President and the constitution," he told ABC News.
"That, I think, is a worrisome possibility that is growing as the political rhetoric gets more and more severe."
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