In highlighting the Trump administration’s efforts to defend Elon Musk’s flagship company, Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday cited past arrests of people charged with trying to torch Tesla products.
Announcing what she described as severe charges against people in Colorado, South Carolina and Oregon, Ms. Bondi said in a news release: “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.”
Two of the three arrests, in fact, happened weeks ago, and the other happened one week ago. But Ms. Bondi’s statement underscored the extent to which the administration has publicly defended and embraced Mr. Musk, one of President Trump’s chief allies and the billionaire leading efforts to slash the federal bureaucracy.
Ms. Bondi has called such destruction at company dealerships a form of domestic terrorism. Her assessment roughly corresponds to how federal law enforcement officials have characterized attacks by animal rights activists on testing laboratories as a niche form of terrorism.
But Ms. Bondi has also gone further, suggesting that these are not isolated attacks by like-minded people but rather part of a larger plot by people “operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”
The announcement did not identify the individuals or the charges they faced, but law enforcement officials have said they were: Adam Lansky in Salem, Ore., who was charged by federal authorities two weeks ago, Lucy Nelson who was arrested in February in Loveland, Colo., and Daniel Clarke-Pounder in Charleston, S.C. who was charged a week ago.
The individuals have been charged with arson or attempted arson that affects interstate commerce.
Over the last few weeks, several acts of vandalism and arson have been committed against Tesla property. Law enforcement officials said none have caused serious injuries.
The attacks have coincided with Mr. Musk’s efforts to drastically shrink the federal government, firing tens of thousands of federal employees and shutting down entire agencies.