Attorney General Pam Bondi labeled the recent vandalism targeting Tesla dealerships and cars as “domestic terrorism” and added the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already charged “several” alleged perpetrators. Some could face up to five years in prison.
“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences,” Bondi said in a statement released Tuesday.
“We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes,” the attorney general said.
Protesters in several states across the country have targeted Tesla’s dealerships, showrooms, charging stations and vehicles. No injuries have been reported.
Multiple Tesla cars were lit on fire in Las Vegas this week. Law enforcement along with the FBI are probing the incident. In Kansas City, Cybertrucks at a dealership were damaged, the FBI said.
Tesla was removed from the upcoming Vancouver International Auto Show, according to the show’s Executive Director Eric Nicholl, who said the event’s “primary concern is the safety of attendees, exhibitors, and staff.”
Canadians in multiple cities have participated in the “Tesla Takedown” protests to rebuke Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur who heads six major companies, including Tesla.
The protests — in the U.S., Canada and other countries around the world — have surfaced since President Trump took office in January and directed Musk to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory board that has infiltrated various federal government agencies and departments in the name of cutting spending and rooting out waste and abuse.
DOGE’s efforts have led to terminations of thousands of federal workers, while some agencies had their congressionally appropriated funds withheld. The advisory board has been strongly criticized by Democrats on Capitol Hill and has run into roadblocks in court.
Musk rebuked those behind the recent attacks against Tesla’s vehicles.
“It’s really come as quite a shock to me that there is this level of, really, hatred and violence from the left. I always thought that the left, you know, Democrats were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they’re burning down cars, firebombing dealerships, they’re firing bullets into dealerships, they’re smashing up Teslas,” Musk said Tuesday during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.
Bondi, the nation’s top law enforcement officer, warned vandals last week to “watch out” as the Trump administration looked to retaliate against those damaging the electric vehicles.
“I have already directed an investigation be opened to see how is this being funded, who is behind this, doing this,” Bondi said on Fox Business.
“We have people we’re locking up on that,” she said. “We have someone in jail right now from one of the dealerships. They threw a Molotov cocktail through a dealership. They’re looking at up to 20 years in prison.”
Last month, a woman in Colorado was arrested for allegedly spray painting the word “Nazi” and igniting Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership.
Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, was arrested last week on criminal charges after allegedly throwing five Molotov cocktails that damaged Tesla chargers. The man also allegedly spray painted in red paint, “F‑‑‑ Trump” and “Long Live Ukraine” in a Tesla charging station parking spot, according to the U.S. attorney’s office of District of South Carolina.
“While we will defend the public’s right to peaceful protest, we will not hesitate to act when protest crosses the line into violence and mayhem. These kinds of attacks have no place in our community,” acting U.S. Attorney Brook B. Andrews for the District of South Carolina said in a statement.
