“If you read the news, it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk told employees at a company event. File Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
March 24 (UPI) — The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday launched a task force to investigate recent attacks targeting Tesla.
Multiple federal officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, have called it “domestic terrorism,” with Patel saying those responsible “will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”
The newly created 10-person task force within the FBI’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will look into the slew of ongoing and recent attacks in at least nine states targeting the electric vehicle company owned by Trump administration adviser and DOGE chief Elon Musk.
So far this month the FBI has received at least 48 reports related to Tesla dealerships, vehicles and charging stations and is investigation at least seven active cases, The New York Post reported.
Vandals have done things like sketch swastikas on Musk’s cyber trucks accusing him of being a nazi.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called a spate of recent attacks “domestic terrorism” after two dealerships fell victim to overnight arson followed by a shooting at an Oregon Tesla dealership.
Monday’s FBI announcement arrived hours after a bomb squad in Austin, Texas located multiple incendiary devices at a Tesla showroom where the company is headquartered.
The Post reported that the FBI is stationing agents at its field office in San Antonio.
It was the latest in what has been a series of attacks and acts of vandalism targeted at Tesla seemingly in protest to Musk’s role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is now engaged in sweeping mass layoffs — including plans to cut some 60,000 DOD jobs — a chaotic dismantling of government departments and agencies.
“We’re talking about coordinated, violent acts targeting a specific company, motivated by ideological beliefs — whether environmental, political, or social,” Rob Chadwick, a former FBI supervisory special agent and director of education and training at the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, told The Post. “These attacks clearly meet the FBI’s established definition of domestic terrorism.”
“The FBI defines domestic terrorism as violent, criminal acts committed by individuals or groups within the United States, motivated by domestic ideological goals, to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence government policy,” Chadwick added.
Meanwhile, three people have been arrested so far in connection to the incidents as FBI officials probe the “Tesla Takedown” website run out of Salt Lake City calling for mass protests on March 29 at 500 Tesla showrooms and charging stations across the United States.
“The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response,” Patel wrote on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, the world’s richest person.
On Thursday, the Tesla CEO called people vandalizing Tesla’s a “psycho” and should “stop being a psycho.”
“If you read the news, it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk told employees at a company event.