President Donald Trump promoted Elon Musk’s Tesla vehicles on the White House lawn. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged Fox News viewers to buy stock in the electric car company. And we’re seeing this whole-of-government effort backing the world’s richest person (and Trump’s top 2024 election donor) extend to the Department of Justice as well.
Attorney General Pam Bondi most recently emphasized her support of Musk on Thursday, when she issued a press release headlined, “Attorney General Pamela Bondi Announces Severe Charges Against Violent Tesla Arsonists.” The release didn’t name specific defendants or charges but summarized allegations against three people she said were “responsible for the violent destruction of Tesla properties.” She said they’ll “face the full force of the law for using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars and charging stations.”
Bondi said in the release that “the days of committing crimes without consequence have ended” and “if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.”
One might object that the days of consequence-free crime haven’t so much “ended” as a new administration has new criminal justice priorities, beginning with Trump’s blanket pardoning of the Jan. 6 defendants. But each administration is entitled to its priorities within the confines of the law, and the DOJ’s latest announcement helps to solidify its policy of protecting those loyal to Trump and taking punitive action against others.
On that note, Ed Martin, the president’s pick to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the nation’s capital, has likewise pledged to bring the weight of the federal law against Musk’s opponents. And just this week, Bondi retweeted Musk’s posts about her Fox News television appearance and public statement touting law enforcement action against Tesla-related defendants. Putting aside the specifics of these cases, whatever criminal actions anyone takes against people or property shouldn’t escape prosecution based on the victim’s identity. That is, Musk’s person and property are no less legally deserving of protection than anyone else’s. But given the political incentive behind bringing these cases and any other related ones, they’ll deserve close scrutiny as they develop. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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