Earlier this month, as President Donald Trump attempted to boost Tesla’s sagging stock price by displaying some cars from bestie Elon Musk’s automaker in the White House driveway, he vowed to crack down hard on those charged with violent attacks on the company’s dealerships.
“I will do that,” he said when asked if he would label such perpetrators as domestic terrorists. “We catch anybody doing it — because they’re harming a great American company.”
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi followed through on that promise, announcing that three defendants had been charged with “severe offenses” for their alleged involvement in arsons targeting Tesla properties.
“All three defendants will face the full force of the law for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars and charging stations,” the Justice Department press release reads. Bondi’s office hinted at these charges in a Tuesday release, saying, “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 days of committing crimes without consequences are over,” Bondi stated on Thursday. “Let this be a warning: If you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”
The charges against three defendants accused of using Molotov cocktails to start fires in Oregon, Colorado, and South Carolina were not specified. However, the department announced that if convicted, they could face a minimum of five years to up to 20 years in prison.
While an American citizen cannot be charged with “domestic terrorism” per se, the term is defined by the US criminal code as activities that “involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State” and “appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.”
But Bondi looks like he’ll be charged under a federal statute that states: “Whoever maliciously damages or destroys, or attempts to damage or destroy, by means of fire or an explosive, any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property used in interstate or foreign commerce or in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce shall be imprisoned for not less than 5 years and not more than 20 years.”
In that case, it appears that the “domestic terrorism” label is intended to appease Trump and Musk rather than to advance legal strategy.
Meanwhile, no charges have been filed in connection with the suspected arson of Tesla chargers outside Boston, two separate incidents of gunfire at a Portland-area Tesla dealership, or the torching and shooting of Teslas at a Las Vegas repair facility, all of which occurred within the last month.
Other Tesla dealerships and vehicles on lots across the country have been vandalized with spray paint, with some denouncing Musk as a Nazi for his right-wing extremism and his salute at an inauguration event in January, which white nationalists recognized as a “Sieg Heil” gesture. (He said it wasn’t.)
The company is also facing public backlash, in part because Musk is dismantling federal agencies as the de facto head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), firing thousands of government employees and even threatening programs such as Social Security.
Between gutting such institutions on behalf of the Trump administration and his toxic politics, he has inspired Tesla Takedown, a peaceful grassroots movement of tens of thousands of people who have protested the company around the world for several weeks, picketing Tesla centers and encouraging boycotts.
The campaign also urges Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and investors to sell their stock, which experienced its steepest drop in five years last week. Since Trump took office, it has lost all of its gains from when the share price skyrocketed following his election victory, losing a third of its value in the last month alone.
Musk has taken to portraying himself and Tesla as innocent victims. “Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company?” he wrote on his X account on Thursday, alongside photos of burned cars and graffiti-covered dealerships.
“I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!” He warned that “Tesla has ramped up security and activated Sentry Mode on all vehicles at stores,” referring to the cars’ ability to record their surroundings using multiple cameras. Meanwhile, the official brand posted: “Smile, you’re on camera.” Musk labeled this “bad news for criminals.”
And, in between comments demonizing trans people as “violent”—on the same day Teen Vogue published an interview in which his estranged trans daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, excoriated him as a “pathetic man-child”—Musk shared Bondi’s announcement of severe charges for the three people arrested in connection with suspected dealership arsons. The embattled oligarch took a more triumphant tone here: “The hammer of justice strikes,” he declared.
