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By Anna Commander
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The new Trump administration "can't wait" to find the people who are burning or defacing Teslas and put them in jail, Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O'Leary says.
Newsweek reached out to Tesla via email for comment Wednesday night.
Why It Matters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has worked in tandem with President Donald Trump during his second term in office. Musk is tasked with spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has faced fierce backlash amid cuts to the federal budget, including thousands of federal jobs.
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Amid the resistance, Tesla cars and property have been targeted and torched across the United States in apparent retaliation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Tuesday that the attacks are "nothing short of domestic terrorism."
Most recently, a Las Vegas Tesla collision center was attacked. Authorities said numerous vehicles were set ablaze and the building's doors were spray-painted with the word "resist."
What To Know
While speaking on CNN Wednesday night, O'Leary, star of business reality TV series Shark Tank, spoke about the attacks to Tesla vehicles: "When you set a car on fire, you should go to jail. You're a criminal. I don't think we have to talk about it in any other context. And all those cars have cameras in them, and those dealerships have cameras. You are beyond being stupid when you do that ... you're going to go to jail. And you now have a government that just got their mandate, they can't wait to find idiots that do this."
O'Leary continued, "You're going to spend five to 20 years in prison. If they get them on terrorism, which I think's a stretch, they will have no parole, no shortened sentence, they'll rot in hell in prison for 20 years. And frankly ... far as I'm concerned, that's OK."
Tesla has also recently been battling disappointing sales amid protests and boycotts, triggering the stock to decline.
Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly also said this month that he plans to sell his Tesla, as he wasn't planning on it becoming a "political issue."
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What People Are Saying
Trump, on Truth Social this month: "To Republicans, Conservatives, and all great Americans, Elon Musk is 'putting it on the line' in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World's great automakers, and Elon's 'baby,' in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for. They tried to do it to me at the 2024 Presidential Ballot Box, but how did that work out? In any event, I'm going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American. Why should he be punished for putting his tremendous skills to work in order to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN???"
Bondi, in her statement on Tuesday, in full: "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."
Musk, in an exclusive interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night, in part: "Quite a shock to me that there's this level of ... hatred and violence from the left. I always thought that the left, the Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring and yet they're burning down cars. They are firebombing dealerships. They're firing bullets into dealerships, they're ... smashing up Teslas."
Musk continued, "Tesla is a peaceful company, we've never done anything harmful. I've never done anything harmful; I've only done productive things. So, I think we just have a deranged ... there's some kind of mental illness thing going on here, cause this doesn't make any sense."
What Happens Next
The Department of Justice will continue investigating the attacks on Tesla cars and property.
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