Trump floats sending Tesla attackers to El Salvador prisons as White House rallies to defend Musk

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that people found guilty of attacking Tesla properties could serve their sentences in El Salvador prisons, sharply ramping up his rhetoric in defense of Elon Musk's company amid an intensifying backlash.

The president's threat on Truth Social added to his administration's increasingly vocal support for Musk, the billionaire and Trump megadonor who is now leading the divisive government-slashing DOGE initiative.

The efforts to back up Musk have come as Tesla's stock price has plummeted in recent months, shrinking the EV maker's value by hundreds of billions of dollars. At the same time, Tesla cars and showrooms have become targets for arson attacks and vandalism.

"I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla," Trump wrote in the social media post Friday morning.

"Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!" he wrote, referring to his administration's controversial deportation of alleged gang members.

Overnight, Trump had posted, "People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes the funders. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!"

The threats came after Attorney General Pam Bondi touted a handful of federal cases against people accused of setting fire to Tesla cars and property.

Bondi on Thursday decried a "wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties" in a Department of Justice press release that highlighted three defendants charged in connection with Molotov cocktail attacks on Tesla property.

Despite the DOJ claiming that Bondi "announced" the charges, all three cases cited in the press release were previously announced and have received extensive news coverage.

None of the defendants has been charged with "domestic terrorism," which is not a federal offense.

Bondi has previously condemned attacks on Tesla, which have become the focus for rage due to Musk's role overseeing DOGE, the Trump administration's wide-ranging effort to slash federal spending and workforce.

"They're targeting Tesla owners, they're targeting Tesla dealerships. They're targeting Elon Musk, who is out there trying to save our country, and it will not be tolerated," Bondi said in a Fox interview Wednesday.

Bondi also suggested, without providing evidence, that the incidents are "organized."

"These are not isolated, individual events," she said.

Of the three criminal cases highlighted in the DOJ's new press release, the most recent was filed nearly a week earlier, according to the federal court-records site PACER.

The defendant in that case, Daniel Brendan Kurt Clarke-Pounder, was arrested in connection with the "arson of several Tesla charging stations" in South Carolina on March 7.

Clarke-Pounder is charged in U.S. District Court in South Carolina with arson of property in interstate commerce. He was released under supervision on Monday, court records show.

Another defendant, Lucy Grace Nelson, was charged in Colorado federal court on Feb. 26 with malicious destruction of property.

Nelson is accused of throwing incendiary devices at Tesla cars and spray-painting "Nazi" and "F--- Musk" on Tesla property over three nights between late January and early February.

The third defendant, Adam Matthew Lansky, was charged in federal court in Portland, Oregon, with illegal possession of an unregistered destructive device. He is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Teslas on Jan. 20, the day of Trump's inauguration.

The DOJ on Thursday said that all three defendants face charges that could result in sentences of at least five years in prison and up to 20 years behind bars.

"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said in a statement.

Bondi's comments came as Tesla has faced financial woe in addition to physical attacks on its property.

Tesla's stock rocketed higher after Trump won November's election, after Musk had pumped more than $250 million into the Republican's campaign effort.

But the stock has lost much of that value in recent weeks as controversy grew over Musk's leadership of DOGE.

Tesla sales have recently plunged in some foreign markets. And resale prices for its vehicles have reportedly plummeted.

Trump and Musk last week hosted an event on the White House grounds showing off Tesla's vehicles. Trump said he would buy one for himself and revealed that he had purchased a Tesla Cybertruck for his granddaughter, Kai Trump.

On Thursday, Tesla announced a recall of nearly all Cybertrucks in the United States over trim panels falling off.

In a Fox News interview Wednesday night, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged Americans to buy Tesla stock.

It is highly unusual for a high-ranking government official to tout a company's stock.