President Donald Trump said Tesla vandals and their financiers should face up to 20 years in prison. Fox News Digital asked 13 Democrats who sponsored legislation to combat domestic terrorism if they agreed the government should target the people vandalizing Tesla. None of the lawmakers responded.
Amid the ongoing attacks on Tesla showrooms, charging stations and vehicles, the FBI on Monday launched a task force to crack down on the violent attacks. Attorney General Pam Bondi last week labeled the attacks “domestic terrorism” and the Justice Department announced charges against three suspects in Tesla arson cases.
As the Trump administration investigates the Tesla attacks, Democrats have been noticeably silent on an issue they have railed against for years. Last week, Fox News Digital asked the same 13 Democratic lawmakers if they agreed with Bondi’s “domestic terrorism” distinction. Once again, none of the lawmakers responded.
“People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes the funders. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social on Thursday.
DEMS WHO HAVE SPOKEN PASSIONATELY AGAINST DOMESTIC TERRORISM GO SILENT AS TESLA TORCHERS ARE CHARGED
While Trump is leading the charge against “domestic terrorism” targeting Tesla drivers and employees, Democrats initially proposed legislative action to combat domestic terrorism. Former President Joe Biden’s administration launched the first National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in 2021 to identify domestic terrorism as a major national security threat, particularly in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol attacks on Jan. 6.
Democrats have refused to condemn the Tesla attacks despite rallying against “domestic terrorism” during the Biden administration. (AP/Getty/Storyful)
FBI LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON VIOLENT TESLA ATTACKS, MITIGATE THREATS
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and 10 Senate Democrats introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2023. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 focused on combating “white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration.” Both were proposed during the Biden administration.
Bondi warned Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to “tread very carefully” on Sunday after the Democrat suggested Musk should be “taken down” – a call to action she said was “not about violence.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Monday, March 24, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we are going to fight to protect all the Tesla owners throughout this country,” Bondi said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Crockett delivered her remarks during a nationwide call with the “Tesla Takedown” movement, a group advocating for Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and divest their Tesla stocks.
“On March 29, it’s my birthday,” Crockett said. “All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down. I have learned, as I serve on the DOGE Oversight committee, that there is only one language that the people that are in charge understand right now, and that language is money.”
Rep. Ro Khanna speaks at a rally near the White House on April 27, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has taken a unique Democratic approach to the string of Tesla attacks, by urging his colleagues to condemn Tesla vandalism.
“There is zero tolerance for acts of vandalism against Tesla. Spraying the words “nazi cars” or lighting fire to dealership and chargers is wrong. Period. All Democrats should condemn it,” he said in an X post earlier this month.
When asked by Fox News Digital last week if the Tesla attacks are domestic terrorism, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said everyone has a right to protest but no one has the right to violence.
“Well, I don’t know what domestic terrorism? It’s outrageous. It’s absurd. People have a right to protest. Musk, they have a right to protest, you know, in front of Tesla, nobody has the right to engage in any form of violence, period. But that’s all. No one has the right to engage in violence,” Sanders said.
As Fox News Digital reported last week, Democrats who have been radio silent on the Tesla attacks during the Trump administration railed against domestic terrorism before and during the Biden administration.
“As I have said on many occasions, I condemn all violence, regardless of ideology,” Durbin said in 2023 while urging colleagues to support the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallies Democrats against the Republican budget, on the House steps of the Capitol on Feb. 25. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
“We have to act decisively to address the poison of White supremacy and domestic terrorism in America. It’s a poison, it’s a cancer, it’s destroying our society. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s not a Democratic issue or Republican issue, dealing with the crisis of violent White supremacy. It is an American issue,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in 2022.
“We are deeply concerned about the financing of domestic violent extremist activities in the U.S.,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and former Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said in 2022 while calling for a review into how domestic extremists are funded.
Rep. Maxine Waters during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 12, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Waters has yet to call for an investigation into how Tesla protests are being funded as many conservatives are pointing the finger at liberal activist groups. Musk recently blamed left-wing billionaire George Soros, billionaire Democratic mega-donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and others, claiming they are bankrolling the destructive “protests.”
In 2021, then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a Facebook post, “Domestic terrorism is one of the gravest threats to America.”
“When violence fueled by homegrown, hateful ideology poses a more immediate threat to the safety and security of Americans on American soil than an international terrorist organization, it’s time for our laws to catch up,” Schiff said in 2019.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., applauded her Democratic colleagues in 2018 for “refusing to accept the House GOP’s continued failure to investigate domestic terrorism.” Pelosi has yet to condemn the House Democrats for failing to condemn domestic terrorism against Tesla.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said last summer following the first assassination attempt on Trump that “all political violence” should be condemned, adding she was the victim of political violence herself.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 24, 2023. (Getty Images)
Following the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on X: “We must do more to fight terrorism at home and abroad.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., demanded accountability in 2022 for those who perpetrate White supremacy, which is considered a form of domestic terrorism.
“White supremacy has cost countless lives from El Paso to Mother Emanuel and now Buffalo. Our hearts break for the victims. And we demand accountability for those in Congress and in social media that perpetrate this deadly ideology,” she said on X after questioning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Three individuals were charged in federal cases after they used Molotov cocktails to violently attack Tesla properties around the country in acts of “domestic terrorism,” Bondi announced Thursday.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Bondi said. “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.”
Five Tesla vehicles were set on fire and shot at in what police are investigating as a “targeted attack” in Las Vegas on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Hal Sparks via Storyful)
From Oregon to Massachusetts, Tesla cars and facilities have been vandalized in at least 10 locations this year. What began as protests against Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have escalated into violent incidents against the Trump ally’s company, including shots fired at a building, destroyed dealership windows and charging stations set on fire.
While no serious injuries have been reported, the FBI identified an anti-Musk website that was registered on March 17, 2025. It featured an interactive map with a Molotov cocktail cursor of Tesla owners’ names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mails, Tesla supercharger and dealership locations, and addresses of individuals associated with DOGE.
Authorities are investigating a possible arson attack involving a Molotov cocktail on five Teslas in Las Vegas, March 18, 2025. (Souphany Vannavong via Storyful)
Bondi told Fox News’ Will Cain on Wednesday that the Justice Department believes the attacks are part of an organized effort. However, a source familiar told Fox News Digital that the FBI has not developed a connection between people involved in the series of arson incidents at Tesla dealerships and properties and online groups.
Bondi said last week that the attacks are “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”
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“The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences. We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes,” Bondi said in a statement.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Andrew Mark Miller, Taylor Penley and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
