Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that federal prosecutors have charged three people in connection with “domestic terrorism” attacks on Tesla dealerships and charging stations.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Ms. Bondi said. “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 cases cited by the attorney general are part of a nationwide crime wave that has sprung up as Tesla CEO Elon Musk works with President Trump to cut federal spending. The crimes include vandalism of private vehicles and firebombings of dealerships.
Mr. Musk, once a favorite of the political left for his advances with electric vehicles, has joined the ranks of other high-profile business leaders, judges and lawmakers targeted with political violence.
One of the people facing terrorism charges was armed with a suppressed AR-15 and threw eight Molotov cocktails at a dealership in Salem, Oregon, according to the Justice Department, which has not identified the defendants.
Another tried to light Tesla vehicles on fire with Molotov cocktails in Loveland, Colorado, and the third used Molotov cocktails to scorch charging stations in Charleston, South Carolina.
“It’s really come as quite a shock to me that there is this level of real hatred and violence from the left,” Mr. Musk told Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday.
Ms. Bondi characterized the vandalism sprees as “domestic terrorism” after Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk attached the label to the fiery incidents in at least eight states. No injuries have been reported in any of the attacks.
Las Vegas police said a man set two cars ablaze Tuesday with Molotov cocktails and opened fire on three vehicles in a Tesla dealership’s parking lot.
The assailant spray-painted the word “Resist” on the dealership’s front door, police said. The FBI’s top agent in Las Vegas said the attack had some of the “hallmarks” of politically motivated terrorism.
Police in Kansas City, Missouri, said Monday evening that two Cybertrucks were destroyed at a Tesla center in what was being investigated as suspected arson.
“To those who might think something like this is justifiable, or potentially even admirable, we want to let you know it’s a federal crime,” said Las Vegas FBI Agent Spencer Evans. “We will come after you. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
Authorities have made arrests in more than a dozen targeted property crimes nationwide.
Anecdotal evidence supports a growing sense that politically motivated violence has surged since Mr. Trump’s electoral victory in November.
A transgender vegan cult known as the Zizians has been connected to a cross-country killing spree, including the fatal shooting of a federal agent near the Canadian border.
Luigi Mangione, the Baltimore native accused of gunning down a health care CEO on the streets of Manhattan, has inspired a following among left-leaning activists critical of the U.S. health care industry.
On Wednesday, a North Dakota jury found liable Greenpeace demonstrators who set fires, vandalized equipment and threatened workers at a pipeline site. The jury handed down a $660 million verdict in the case.
Mr. Trump survived two attempted assassinations during the campaign last year.
Extremists have attacked and threatened Democrats and other public officials across the political spectrum.
The family of a federal judge appointed by President Obama was attacked at home in 2020 by a gunman who killed the judge’s son. The gunman reportedly planned to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, also nominated by Mr. Obama.
At the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump-supporting rioters assaulted police officers.
In the December killing of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson, prosecutors said Mr. Mangione, the 26-year-old Baltimore native arrested and charged with the caught-on-video shooting, “intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation” to those in the insurance industry.
Some of the evidence brought against the Ivy League graduate notes his alleged disdain for the industry, including bullet casings etched with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose.” Mr. Mangione’s supporters have cheered his antipathy for one of the nation’s largest industries.
An online fundraiser has collected nearly $750,000 for his defense, and admirers have sent love letters while he sits in a federal prison in Brooklyn.
Free speech advocate Allum Bokhari of the Foundation for Freedom Online said many extremists have become intolerant of conservative views.
The managing director of the watchdog group traces what he says is the public’s acceptance of far-left political violence — “forgiveness asymmetry” — to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, when radicals linked to deadly crimes could be hired for influential jobs after the media stopped reporting on militant pasts.
He cited Kathy Boudin, a member of the far-left Weather Underground, who was convicted of murder as part of a 1981 bank truck robbery. She was released after 22 years behind bars and became a professor at Columbia University.
Ms. Boudin’s son, Chesa, was a San Francisco prosecutor notorious for letting criminals avoid prison time. Voters recalled Mr. Boudin in 2022.
Mr. Bokhari said his organization, which fights internet censorship to offer a fuller picture of current events, challenges the media’s willingness to downplay left-wing crime.
He said informing the public about violence from left-wing activists may help law enforcement crack down on the crimes. It also could help redirect some of the animus often reserved for people who offend the liberal orthodoxy maintained by corporate media.
“What we have in American political culture is this asymmetry where one side of the political spectrum will forgive even terrorists and murderers, whereas the other side will often campaign to cancel or destroy the careers of people over mere opinions of words,” Mr. Bokhari said.
