Trump compares violence against Tesla to Capitol riot: ‘You didn’t have anything like that on Jan. 6’

President Trump on Friday compared the vandalization of Tesla dealerships across the U.S. to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, arguing the level of attacks on Elon Musk’s company wasn’t seen at the Capitol.

“I view these people as terrorists, just like others. When I looked at those showrooms burning and those cars — not one or two, like seven, eight, 10 burning, exploding all over the place. These are terrorists. You didn’t have that on Jan. 6, I can tell you,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The president also slammed Democrats for not criticizing the violence against Tesla the way they criticized Jan. 6, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to protest his 2020 election loss.

And he brought up the death of Ashli Babbitt, who tried to climb through a broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker's Lobby in the Capitol and was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer during the riot.

“You didn’t have anything like that on Jan. 6, which is sort of amazing because on Jan. 6, the Democrats were talking. Nobody was killed other than a very beautiful young woman, Ashli, Ashli Babbitt. Nobody was killed,” Trump said.

He also argued the attacks on Tesla is part of “an organized event,” saying the signs protesters hold are similar to one another.

“The people that finance it are, in my opinion, in just as big of trouble as the people who are setting the match, starting the fires,” Trump said.

The president earlier Friday issued a stark warning to those vandalizing Tesla dealerships, threatening extensive jail time.

“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 on Truth Social. "Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday labeled the attacks on the company as “domestic terrorism,” and announced Thursday that three alleged perpetrators had been arrested and are facing “serious charges.”

The White House has also gone to bat for Musk’s Tesla is other ways this week, including when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested Americans should buy Tesla stock.

Tesla’s stock has plummeted in recent weeks, falling nearly 39 percent since the beginning of the year and more than 50 percent since late December. Musk is a top adviser to Trump and has become a bogeyman for critics of the administration who blame him for the efforts to cut federal workers and dismantle agencies.

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