‘This is domestic terrorism’: FBI launches Tesla threat taskforce after devices found at showroom in Texas

The FBI said on Monday that it has launched a task force to investigate scores of attacks in recent weeks targeting Tesla, the electric vehicle company headed by Trump administration DOGE chief Elon Musk.

The announcement of the task force, which is operating in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, came hours after a bomb squad found multiple incendiary devices at a Tesla showroom in Austin, Texas, the same city where the company has its headquarters.

That incident is the latest in a series of attacks and vandalism on Tesla properties related to CEO Musk’s DOGE team.

DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, is engaged in a wide-ranging effort to sharply cut federal government spending and staffing.

There have been at least 80 reported cases of vandalism or arson of Tesla vehicles in the United States and Canada, in addition to peaceful protests at Tesla showrooms, NBC News reported.

Police take security measures as demonstrators gather outside a Tesla showroom for a protest dubbed ‘Tesla Takedown’ against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk (not seen), in New York, United States on March 13, 2025.

“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 said in a post Monday on X, the social media site owned by Musk.

“This is domestic terrorism,” Patel wrote in that tweet. “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 news of the task force.

Laurie Shelby, Tesla’s vice president of Environment, Health and Safety and Security, did not immediately respond to CNBC when asked what the company is doing to protect its facilities.

Musk at a Tesla event on Thursday referenced the spate of vandalism on Tesla vehicles and sites.

“If you read the news, it feels like, you know, Armageddon,” Musk told employees.

The CEO said that anyone burning Tesla vehicles was “psycho” and should “stop being psycho!”

Investigators look over the scene at a Tesla Collision Center after an individual used incendiary devices to set several vehicles on fire on March 18, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A Tesla employee told CNBC that there had not been any company-wide communications about protests or criminal acts targeting the company since Thursday’s all-hands event.

President Donald Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in recent weeks have defended Tesla and condemned the attacks on its vehicles.

Bondi last week highlighted the arrests of several people in connection with vandalism of Tesla vehicles, while Trump suggested that people convicted of such crimes could be sent to serve any sentence in prisons in El Salvador.

A drone view of Tesla cars parked outside a Tesla showroom as police investigates a report of vandalism to dozens of vehicles in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada March 20, 2025.

Trump and Musk earlier this month held an event on the White House lawn showing off Tesla vehicles to reporters. Trump said he would buy one for himself, and said he had already purchased a Tesla Cybertruck for his granddaughter Kai Trump.

Lutnick, in a Fox News interview on Wednesday, urged people to “Buy Tesla” stock.

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

Over the weekend, a man was arrested for allegedly driving his car toward protesters outside a Tesla showroom in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.

“The protestors had to move out of the way in order to avoid being struck by the vehicle,” the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on the arrest of the man, Andrew Dutil.

Dutil was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

NBC News reported that Dutil’s Facebook account had shared content supporting Trump.

A group called “Tesla Takedown” is calling for protests on Saturday outside of the nearly 300 Tesla showrooms in the United States.

“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it,” the group says on its webpage. “We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.”

A spokesperson for Tesla Takedown in an email told CNBC, “The US government has a long history of conflating peaceful protest with violence.”

“The #TeslaTakedown movement has been & always will be nonviolent,” the spokesperson said. “They want to scare us away from protesting Musk’s destruction — but standing up for free speech is essential to democracy. We will not be deterred.”

“We don’t support violence against Tesla,” the spokesperson said.