Republican President Donald Trump's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, followed the Trump administration's playbook by targeting a member of Congress to protect a billionaire Trump donor.
During a Sunday interview on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo, Bondi defended Elon Musk and Tesla while criticizing Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett.
Crocket had encouraged Americans to join nonviolent demonstrations against the unfettered actions and unchecked power of the unelected, unvetted, and unconfirmed, self-described head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk.
AG Bondi said in response:
"...now you have this Congresswoman, Crockett, who is calling for attacks on Elon Musk on her birthday. 'Let’s take him out on my birthday', she says. And yet she turns and says, 'oh, I’m not calling for violence'."
Bondi added:
"She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we are going to fight to protect all the Tesla owners throughout this country."
You can see the clip here:
Bondi was perturbed because Representative Crockett had spoken Wednesday during a virtual rally for the #TeslaTakedown movement, but she conveniently misquoted Crockett, implying that Crockett called for violence against Musk.
On March 29, 2025, the group is organizing nonviolent protests at 277 Tesla locations in the United States, with more than 500 total Tesla-related locations around the globe.
Representative Crockett said to the online audience during the Wednesday virtual rally:
"On March 29, it's my birthday, and all I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down."
"I have learned, as I serve on the DOGE Oversight committee, that there is only one language that the people that are in charge understand right now, and that language is money."
- YouTubeyoutube.com
The Texas Democrat made it clear she didn't mean through violent means.
On Sunday, Representative Crockett offered a response to Bondi's condemnation during her appearance on MSNBC with host Alex Witt. Witt showed the Fox News clip of Bartiromo and Bondi before asking for Representative Crockett's reaction to Bondi's threat.
The outspoken Texan stated:
"Yeah, so I'm actually going to say that I participated in a Tesla Takedown—that is the name of the website. And it was all about this large protest that they're calling for and this is a nonviolent protest that they're calling for."
"...which is why the attorney general had to say that I wasn't calling for violence, and it's ridiculous that I even have to say something like that."
Representative Crockett continued:
"I'm excited to see that Elon Musk, that his money as it relates to Tesla, well, Tesla is tanking right now and I'm okay with that."
Pulling no punches, the Texas Democrat stated:
"So just in case the slow people listening decide to clip this up later, I just want to say that I have never promoted violence whatsoever. Yet, I've also never made excuses for those violent actors, such as the ones on January 6th."
"So Pam Bondi, if you have an issue with terrorism, maybe you should talk to your boss about locking back up those guys that he let out that participated in January 6th."
You can see Representative Crockett's response here:
People across social media took exception to Bondi's threat.
People around the world are encouraged to sign up on the Tesla Takedown website and participate in the Global Day of Protest on March 29.
The #TeslaTakedown website states:
"Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup."
"Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly."
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@BillAckman/Twitter