The FBI launched a task force Monday to try to nail the criminals setting fire to Tesla vehicles and charging stations — calling the acts “domestic terrorism” and eyeing an anarchy blog calling for more.
The bureau has received reports of 48 instances so far this month related to Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations and is investigating at least seven of them in conjunction with local law enforcement, The Post has learned.
The agency’s newly formed 10-person task force will deploy ATF personnel — special agents and intelligence analysts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the Treasury Department — and personnel from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, including its Domestic Terrorism Operations Section and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
ATF is also embedding personnel in FBI field offices starting with San Antonio, Texas, where some of the Molotov cocktail attacks have been carried out.
President Trump has vowed to be tough on the violent vandals behind the cross-country attacks targeting billionaire buddy and adviser Elon Musk’s company.
He recently suggested sending the criminals to serve 20-year jail sentences in El Salvador, where the US recently rented out a prison for deported illegal alleged gang members.
The FBI is treating the attacks as “domestic terrorism” and tracking people who threaten to carry out vandalism on the electric-vehicle company as part of a revenge plot on Musk’s government intervention as head of the controversial Department of Government Efficiency.
“[FBI] Director [Kash] Patel has been unequivocally clear: The FBI will be relentless in its mission to protect the American people,” an agency rep told The Post. “Acts of violence, vandalism, and domestic terrorism — like the recent Tesla attacks — will be pursued with the full force of the law.”
Three people have been arrested so far for some of the attacks, which involved lighting Tesla cars and charging stations on fire. US Attorney General Pam Bondi has also labeled the cases “domestic terrorism” and stressed that the individuals are facing up to 20 years in prison.
The FBI is looking over security camera footage and has gotten access to cell-phone locations for some of the unsolved cases.
The incidents so far include:
- A Tesla Cybertruck being lit on fire in a storage lot in Seattle, Washington.
- Seven Tesla charging stations set ablaze in Littleton, Massachusetts.
- Tesla vehicles set on fire with two Molotov cocktails in Austin, Texas.
- Tesla vehicles being shot at and lit on fire with Molotov cocktails in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- A Tesla dealership being shot at in Tigard, Oregon.
- Two Molotov cocktails targeting Cybertrucks in Kansas City, Missouri.
- A charging station being damaged with drilled holes in Seattle, Oregon.
- A Tesla dealership and vehicles being spray-painted with “F–k Nazi Scum” and “F–k Nazis” in San Diego, California.
- A battery station being set on fire and spray-painted with “BURN NAZI CAR KILL ELON” in Seattle, Oregon.
The bureau also is looking into an anarchist blog being run out of Salt Lake City, Utah, and tracking a mass protest called “Tesla Takedown” scheduled for March 29 calling for 500 demonstrations at Tesla showrooms and charging stations.
In addition ,the FBI identified the site Dogeque.st that has information doxxing Tesla employees and locations across the country and being run out of the African country of Sao Tome.
“These attacks clearly meet the FBI’s established definition of domestic terrorism,” said Rob Chadwick, a former FBI supervisory special agent and director of education and training at the US Concealed Carry Association, to The Post.
“We’re talking about coordinated, violent acts targeting a specific company, motivated by ideological beliefs — whether environmental, political, or social,” he said. “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.
“These are ideologically driven attacks meant to intimidate — and that puts them squarely in the FBI’s crosshairs. Those breaking the law or using violence to intimidate others will feel the full weight of the justice system.”
