Burned Teslas are shown 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.
Ethan Miller | Getty Images
The FBI said on Monday that it has launched a task force to investigate scores of attacks 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.
“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!”
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.
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.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this article
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