The bell has rung to signal the start of Round 2 between Attorney General Pam Bondi and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, as Trump’s top legal enforcer demands the Texas Democrat apologize to Tesla shareholders for her public criticism of the automaker.
The saga started after Crockett voiced her support for #TeslaTakedown, a group organizing nonviolent protests against Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company. In response, Bondi told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Monday that the congresswoman needed to “tread very carefully.”
Crockett appeared shortly after on MSNBC to remind Bondi that she had not “promoted violence whatsoever.”
But Bondi was not done, once again playing the Tesla enforcer on Fox News’ Hannity Monday evening. Host Sean Hannity played Crockett’s comments before Bondi came on. “On March 29, it’s my birthday,” Crockett said during the #TeslaTakedown livestream. “And all I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down.”
Hannity noted Crockett’s assertion that she wasn’t calling for violence, but then played a clip of her saying that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) should be “knocked over the head, like hard.”
Fox News regular Bondi was then rolled out, and she also noted Crockett’s denial that she was calling for violence. “But, however, your words have consequences,” she caveated, before appearing to link Crockett’s words to bombs being found at a Tesla showroom in Texas.
“And what happened after she said that about Elon Musk—she’s a Texan—and in her own home state after she said that, this morning three explosive devices were found in Austin, Texas," Bondi added.
Then she called for Crockett to apologize to the real victims of the Tesla attacks: the shareholders.
“So she needs to unequivocally denounce the violence. She must apologize immediately not only to all Texans, but to our country, to the American shareholders of Tesla, because she is promoting violence,” Bondi added.
Bondi said that Crockett could be censured by Congress for her comments about Cruz. “She’s using her public persona, her public platform to increase her followers, to increase her significance. And she is threatening lives, safety,” she added.
“She’s yet encouraging this violence in our country. Think of all the lives that could have been jeopardized in Texas just today by her words and what she’s done, but she didn’t stop with that. She continued on with Senator Cruz. She has to apologize immediately and denounce the violence.”
Hannity then asked whether there are “laws against making terroristic threats,” prompting Bondi to repeat her “tread carefully” warning.
“Again, words have consequences. And she does need to tread very carefully,” she said.
