Attorney General Pam Bondi said Molotov cocktails thrown at Tesla dealerships “could be a weapon of mass destruction,” according to Gizmodo’s March 24, 2025 report. That was a description of incendiary devices involved in reported attacks on Tesla property—not evidence that peaceful Tesla protesters possessed weapons of mass destruction or had been formally designated terrorists.
What did Pam Bondi say?
Gizmodo’s Matt Novak reported that Bondi made the remark during a March 23, 2025 appearance on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo. As quoted by Gizmodo, Bondi said: “These are Molotov cocktails. That could be a weapon of mass destruction that they’re throwing in Tesla dealerships.” Read Gizmodo’s March 24 report.
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The wording matters: Bondi said the devices “could be” a WMD. The report does not establish that the government declared every protester a WMD possessor, or that peaceful demonstrators were responsible for the attacks. Gizmodo is the source for the quotation; the original broadcast transcript was not available to independently confirm its wording.
Were peaceful Tesla protesters accused of the attacks?
Gizmodo distinguishes attacks on Tesla property from peaceful Tesla Takedown demonstrations. It describes the demonstrations as protests motivated by opposition to Elon Musk’s role and actions, separate from reported incidents involving Molotov cocktails or shots at unoccupied Tesla vehicles. The report does not establish that peaceful protesters carried out those attacks.
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That distinction is important: a protest directed at a company and an attack on its property are not interchangeable events. The article’s headline uses “War on Terror” as a political analogy about government rhetoric, not as proof of a formal campaign against peaceful protesters.
What does the “War on Terror” comparison mean?
The comparison invokes post-9/11 counterterrorism language, but the evidence cited does not show the government officially launching a “War on Terror” against Tesla protesters. A 2018 White House statement described a strategy aimed at preventing terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction and related materials. It said: “The President’s strategy addresses the need to disrupt and degrade the technical capabilities of terrorists plotting WMD attacks.” Read the White House’s 2018 statement.
That historical strategy concerned terrorist access to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons and associated materials. Bondi’s reported comment was about Molotov cocktails in the context of attacks on Tesla property. The shared WMD terminology helps explain the analogy, but does not establish that the 2018 strategy—or a comparable formal policy—was applied to peaceful Tesla demonstrators.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What incidents did Gizmodo report?
Gizmodo said the FBI had asked the public to watch for suspicious activity around Tesla dealerships after “at least nine known incidents” involving shots at unoccupied Tesla vehicles and Molotov cocktails at empty buildings. That count is Gizmodo’s contemporaneous 2025 reporting, not an independently verified FBI total in the sources available here. The report also does not make the figure evidence that peaceful protesters committed those acts.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteFor readers assessing the claim, keep the attribution attached to the number: it is “at least nine known incidents,” as reported by Gizmodo in 2025—not a confirmed total established by the underlying FBI incident record.
Quick Recap
What the headline does—and does not—establish
- Established by the report: Gizmodo attributed the WMD remark to Bondi during a Fox News appearance and described reported attacks on Tesla property alongside separate peaceful demonstrations.
- Not established by the report: that peaceful Tesla protesters as a group used Molotov cocktails, possessed WMDs, or were formally designated as terrorists.
- Editorial interpretation: “War on Terror” characterizes the rhetoric by analogy; it is not the name of a documented government policy against the protests.
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