FBI forms taskforce over rising reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships

Escalating reports of vandalism at Tesla dealerships and charging stations across the US have prompted the FBI to create a taskforce to target the perpetrators.

The development, announced by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, comes as White House officials close ranks around Elon Musk, the Tesla owner and world’s richest person who has been leading efforts to slash federal jobs and budgets as head of the “department of government efficiency” (Doge).

Protests against the cutbacks have taken place at dozens of the electrical vehicle maker’s dealerships in recent days and weeks, with some taking on a sinister air. Incendiary devices were discovered at a Tesla property in Austin, Texas, on Monday. And a man in West Palm Beach, Florida, near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, was charged with aggravated assault after allegedly trying to drive into a group of protesters on Saturday.

Patel gave no details about the makeup of the taskforce, which comes amid reports he is bolstering his agency’s numbers by reassigning up to 1,000 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – of which he is also acting director – to the FBI.

Burnt Teslas are shown at a Tesla collision center after an individual used incendiary devices to set several vehicles on fire on 18 March in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Ben Williamson, the FBI’s assistant director of public affairs, confirmed its formation in a tweet and said the taskforce would work “in conjunction with ATF to coordinate investigative activity and crack down on violent Tesla attacks”.

A group called TeslaTakedown is planning a “global day of action” this Saturday at hundreds of Tesla locations around the world, urging people to “turn out in numbers to fight Elon Musk’s illegal coup”.

Tesla sales have plummeted by almost 45% in Europe. And the company’s stock market value has tanked since Musk’s Doge began firing thousands of federal employees and cutting budgets at numerous agencies at the behest of Trump, whom the Tesla CEO supported as he successfully ran for a second presidency in November.

Trump has falsely labeled a boycott of Tesla products as “illegal” and called acts of vandalism such as setting fire to Tesla vehicles or charging stations domestic terrorism. Patel repeated the claim on Monday in a tweet insisting that “those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice”.

On Friday, Trump warned “sick terrorist thugs” convicted of arson or other offenses of violence at Tesla dealerships that they risked being sent to prison in El Salvador to serve 20-year sentences.

TeslaTakedown, meanwhile, said people have the right to protest peacefully on sidewalks and streets in front of the company’s showrooms. “Peaceful protest on public property is not domestic terrorism. We will not be bullied or allow our rights to be trampled on or stolen,” the group said in a statement.

Other senior Trump administration officials have also stepped in. On Sunday, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, warned a Democratic Texas congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett, to “tread very carefully” after she recently appeared at a virtual rally hosted by TeslaTakedown and called for Musk “to be taken down”.

Crockett said during the rally that her call was for nonviolent action.

Bondi told Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures: “She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we’re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country.”

Bondi recently announced charges against three people accused of “violent destruction of Tesla properties” after incidents in three states.

One person was accused of being armed with an AR-15 rifle and throwing molotov cocktails at a Salem, Oregon, dealership. And a second was arrested in Loveland, Colorado, for allegedly trying to set a building on fire.

Authorities in Charleston, South Carolina, said they charged a person who allegedly “wrote profane messages against President Trump around Tesla charging stations before lighting the charging stations on fire with molotov cocktails”.

In a statement, Bondi said the unnamed defendants will face “the full force of the law”.

She wrote: “The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended. 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.”