CNN: FBI Issues Public Alert After Targeted Attacks Against Tesla

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
Thank you so much for joining me. I‘m Fredricka Whitfield, and we begin this hour with a warning from the FBI urging the public to be on alert for any signs of planned attacks against Tesla vehicles and property. It comes after multiple facilities have been targeted in recent months, with individuals setting fire to chargers, vehicles and vandalizing buildings. The attacks began in January amid backlash over Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s involvement with doge, and the department‘s efforts to shrink the federal government. CNN‘s Julia vargas Jones has more.
>> That‘s really incorrect.
>> Of course it‘s incorrect.
>> Rolling his model y.
>> Back to factory settings. Joe romer is a Tesla owner.
>> No more.
>> A week ago, while covering a.
>> Protest at a.
>> Tesla service.
>> Center.
>> We found romer as he drove past the picket line.
>> I‘m in the process of. Getting my car repaired so that I can sell it.
>> Today.
>> He says.
>> A weight.
>> Is lifted.
>> I feel better because I was. Getting to the point where this was being embarrassing. Driving this car because of. Elon Musk and the things he‘s doing right now, and that just I find annoying and not acceptable.
>> Even though he‘s selling for less than a third of what he originally paid four years ago, romer is not alone.
>> From our hub, they were picking up eight. Teslas today.
>> In 2025. Thousands of Americans are breaking up with the automaker. Tesla cars for model year 2017 or newer. Made up 1.4% of all vehicles traded in through mid-March. That‘s more than triple the rate from this time last year, according to edmunds. Data shared with Reuters. And some Tesla drivers are hiding in plain sight.
>> And then I just took my finger and I.
>> Just pulled it off.
>> It makes me feel like I‘m doing something.
>> Masking a Tesla costs almost nothing. But in the week romer waited to sell, he got $800 less for the car.
>> There‘s always going to be opportunity.
>> To either do.
>> The right thing, or at least signal.
>> That you‘re doing the right thing. But for most.
>> People, the average consumer taking the hit.
>> On the depreciation of a.
>> Relatively expensive electric car by selling it. Just to prove a point is not something that they‘re in the business of doing.
>> Protests continue at dealerships across the country, and some Tesla properties have become targets torched with molotov cocktails shot at and defaced. And all this comes as. Tesla faces new headaches, including potential import tariff woes and recalls. After cybertruck panels have been reportedly falling off. The stock price has also plunged. That has liberals cheering.
>> They‘ve got.
>> That little.
>> Stock app I added Tesla to to give me a little boost during the day.
>> And the Trump Administration taking unprecedented steps to defend the company.
>> On stage.
>> On Thursday, attorney general Pam Bondi announced charges against three people accused of destroying Tesla property in Oregon, Colorado and South Carolina. If convicted, each faces a minimum of five years and up to 20 behind bars. And on Friday, President Trump, comparing attacks on Tesla facilities to the January 6th insurrection.
>> Well, I view these people as terrorists, just like others. These are when I looked at those showrooms burning and those cars, not 1 or 2 like seven, eight, 10, burning, exploding all over the place. These are terrorists. You didn‘t have that on January 6th.
>> All of that going too far for romer.
>> It is done.
>> How do you.
>> Feel?
>> Better.
>> Better.
>> Happy?
>> And more people that agree with romer are expected to be here today. Fred. This is a dealership in pasadena, California. They are boarded up. They boarded up their front door. We saw people here a couple of weeks ago as well. And look, these protests continue to grow. The people that we speak to here, they have said to us that they want to send a message. To the administration that they don‘t believe Elon Musk should be so involved in the politics of the country. He wasn‘t elected. That has been the resounding message from these people. Now the question is, will that message be actually heard by the