FBI announces task force to investigate “violent | Political News

The FBI introduced on Monday it will type a particular task force to investigate the ongoing assaults in latest weeks in opposition to Tesla, the electric car company headed by Trump administration DOGE chief Elon Musk.

The bureau’s announcement comes after a bomb squad in Texas found a number of incendiary gadgets at a Tesla showroom in Austin, the identical metropolis that’s home to Tesla’s headquarters. The FBI mentioned the task force will work at the side of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The incident in Austin is the newest in a collection of assaults in opposition to Tesla in response to Musk’s DOGE drastic slicing of federal authorities spending and the firing of federal employees which a number of courts have ruled to be unlawful. There have been a minimum of 80 reported circumstances of vandalism or arson of Tesla automobiles within the United States and Canada, as well as to peaceable protests at Tesla showrooms, NBC News reported.

“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,” FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned in a post-Monday on X, the social media web site owned by Musk. “This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino tweeted, “Justice is coming.” The New York Post first reported information of the task force. Musk, whereas talking to Tesla workers final week addressed the assaults saying anybody burning Tesla automobiles is “psycho” and may “stop being psycho!”

“If you read the news, it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk advised workers.

A Tesla spokesperson advised CNBC that there had not been any company-wide communications relating to assaults or vandalism in opposition to the company since Thursday all-hands occasion the place Musk spoke.

President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in latest weeks have defended Tesla and condemned the assaults on its automobiles and dealerships.

Bondi, final week, revealed that a number of people have been arrested and charged in reference to assaults or vandalism in opposition to Tesla automobiles.

“The swarm of violent assaults on Tesla property is nothing short of home terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged a number of perpetrators with that in thoughts, together with in circumstances that contain expenses with five-year necessary minimal sentences. We will proceed investigations that impose extreme penalties on these concerned in these assaults, together with these working behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes,” Bondi mentioned in a assertion final week.

Trump even went so far as to counsel these convicted of assaults in opposition to Tesla property needs to be despatched to El Salvador to serve their jail sentences.

Amid Tesla’s falling stock worth, Trump and Musk held an occasion on the White House garden earlier this month, seemingly attempting to promote the electric car company, with Trump primarily pretending to buy a crimson Tesla vehicle. Trump additionally mentioned during the occasion that he had already bought a Tesla Cybertruck for his granddaughter Kai Trump.

Tesla shares closed trading Monday at $278.39 per share, more than 40% decrease than the stock’s 52-week high of $488.54 per share, which it hit in mid-December.