President Trump on Tuesday said he would treat the spate of vandalism attacks against Tesla dealerships nationwide as acts of domestic terrorism.
Mr. Trump made the announcement while standing by Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, who is heading up the administration’s sweeping audits of federal agencies in an effort to root out wasteful spending.
Asked by a reporter about labeling the attacks on Tesla the work of “domestic terrorists,” he replied “I will do that, I’ll do it.”
“They are harming a great American company,” the president said, before adding later, “When you hurt an American company — especially a company like this [which] supplies so many jobs, that others are unable to do — when you do that, those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.”
Mr. Trump said authorities already know who some of the suspects are and called them “bad guys.”
A series of attacks at Tesla locations across the country have been launched since the Republican president took office, according to local authorities.
The vandalism has ranged from late-night shootings aimed at display cars and showroom windows to suspects using Molotov cocktails to damage the electric vehicles.
Attacks have been reported in Massachusetts, Oregon and Colorado, with police making a handful of arrests in those cases.
In Salem, Oregon, authorities last week arrested Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, on accusations that he used Molotov cocktails to set a vehicle on fire in January, and shot at the business in February. Mr. Lansky is currently behind bars.
In Loveland, Colorado, police arrested transgender woman Lucy Grace Nelson, 40, after she was linked to several property crimes directed toward a dealership in the city between Jan. 29 and Feb. 11.
Police said the accused lit Molotov cocktails as well as spray painting the word “Nazi” on the dealership’s entrance sign.
She was released from federal custody last week on a promise to return to court.
“I couldn’t be more disappointed with a criminal justice system that would release an individual on a [personal recognizance] bond who placed incendiary devices at a Loveland business,” Loveland Police Chief Tim Doran said in a press release. “It’s incredibly challenging to keep our citizens safe from copycat behavior when there are no repercussions to lawlessness.”
Protestors have also launched “Tesla Takedown” protests at dealerships in Maryland earlier this month and in Manhattan this past weekend.
Following a March 3 protest at a dealership in Owings Mills, Maryland, police said the business was tagged with graffiti that said “No Musk” and a symbol that resembled a swastika.
And around 100 protestors demonstrated in front of a Tesla dealership in Manhattan last weekend, resulting in six arrests for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to the New York Police Department.
The organizers of Tesla Takedown sent a statement Tuesday to The Washington Times after President Trump’s domestic terrorism announcement.
“By singling out his biggest donor’s business as somehow outside of that democracy, Trump is yet again showing us who he is: a corrupt would-be king. Americans won’t stand for that,” the group said. “We are a nonviolent grassroots protest movement. We oppose violence and destruction of property. Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. They are trying to intimidate us. We will not let them succeed.”
Mr. Musk, the billionaire tech magnate and close adviser to Mr. Trump, has been tasked by the White House with cutting $1 trillion in wasteful spending.
Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has audited multiple federal agencies since Mr. Trump took office.
The temporary agency has angered Democrats, who are critical of Mr. Musk and the Trump administration’s swift firings of federal employees.
