A protest at a Tesla location in Florida was disrupted Saturday when a man drove into the crowd.
A suspect was arrested at the scene and there were no injuries, according to police.
Law enforcement tells the AP that the suspect, Andrew Dutil, allegedly drove his Nissan Pathfinder at a slow speed onto the sidewalk and directly into the group of demonstrators before coming to a stop and exiting the vehicle.
Reports indicate Dutil claimed to be an employee of the Tesla showroom where the protests were taking place.
“He drove into a crowd of senior citizens,” said Mark Offerman of the Democratic Progressive Caucus Palm Beach County about the driver. “Everybody was able to move out, but two older women were really almost clipped. We immediately called the cops.”
The AP adds that “Dutil was arrested and faces an assault charge, according to court records.”
At many of the @Tesla Takedown events this weekend, organizers were passing out signs that had QR codes on them so they could recruit more people.
At least one individual associated with the group “Tesla Takedown” posted on social media about the incident.
In response to CEO Elon Musk supporting President Donald Trump during the election and slashing budgets and personnel through DOGE over the last several weeks, protests and acts of vandalism and violence have broken out both at Tesla locations and against individual vehicle owners across the country.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has labeled the incidents domestic terrorism.
A 17-year-old Wisconsin teen accused of killing his mother and stepfather had also plotted to assassinate President Donald Trump to start a “political revolution,” according to court documents.
Nikita Casap, 17, had images and messages on his phone that referenced a “self-described manifesto regarding assassinating the president, making bombs, and terrorist attacks,” FOX6 Milwaukee reported, citing a search warrant filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Images of a three-page document titled “Accelerate the Collapse” called for the assassination of Trump, according to the report.
‼️17 year-old Nikita Casap charged in parents murder, plotted to assassinate President Trump.
Authorities say he was also affiliated with a RACIST satanic neo-Nazi group.
Nikita Casap, only 17YO, was charged with the 1st degree murder of his parents and hiding their corpses. He lived with their dead bodies for at leat 12 days. They were decomposed beyond recognition.
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) April 14, 2025
Trump was specifically referenced in an excerpt from the document, which said “getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president” is “guaranteed to bring in some chaos. … Point being this manifesto is specifically for the attack that targets Trump.”
Casap was charged earlier this month in the shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. The couple were found severely decomposed in their home on Feb 28 – more than two weeks after prosecutors allege Casap killed them.
During an interview with one of Casap’s classmates, authorities learned that Casap told the female classmate he had been in contact with a man from Russia, who they claim knew about the teen’s scheme to take passports, a car and the family dog and flee to Ukraine, according to the report.
A recent study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed a concerning trend: a significant portion of left-leaning Americans believe that political violence, including assassination, is justifiable against figures such as President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The study surveyed over 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 38% of respondents felt that assassinating Trump would be at least “somewhat justified,” with this figure rising to 55% among those identifying as left-leaning. Similarly, 31% of overall participants, and 48% of left-leaning individuals, expressed some level of justification for assassinating Musk.
This data suggests a troubling normalization of violent political rhetoric within certain segments of the population. The NCRI report highlights that this shift has been particularly pronounced following the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Mangione’s actions have been glamorized in various online communities, leading to a proliferation of memes and discussions that endorse political violence.
A convicted Jan. 6 rioter has now been found guilty of planning to kill federal agents who were investigating his role in the Capitol attack.
Edward Kelley, 35, was convicted Wednesday by a jury of conspiracy to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing a federal official by threat following a three-day trial per The Hill.
Federal prosecutors said Kelley developed a “kill list” of FBI agents and others who participated in the investigation into his conduct on Jan. 6, hatching a plan to murder them while awaiting trial in his Capitol attack case.
A defendant who pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors testified that he and Kelley plotted attacks on the FBI field office in Knoxville, Tenn., using car bombs and explosives attached to drones, according to the Justice Department. They also discussed assassinating FBI employees in their homes or public places, like movie theatres.
Prosecutors showed a recording at trial of Kelley stating “every hit has to hurt.”
In his Capitol riot case, Kelley was convicted of 11 counts following a two-day bench trial, including obstructing law enforcement officers during a civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or ground.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison at sentencing in May.
Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
On Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, called on the Supreme Court to overturn her sex trafficking conviction.
“We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement.
Maxwell’s attorney argues her conviction violates a nonprosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors. The appeal turns on the scope of the 2007 deal, which let Epstein avoid federal charges for pleading guilty to state-level sex crimes in Florida and serving 18 months in prison.
The deal was signed by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Lower courts ruled the deal only covers that district and doesn’t apply to federal prosecutors in New York, where Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding Epstein in abusing underage girls.
“Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea agreements, the government tries to distract by reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct,” Markus wrote in the new brief.
“But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”
The new statement came as Maxwell made her final plea to the Supreme Court on Monday before the justices decide whether to take up her case. Maxwell filed the appeal in April, and the justices are poised to consider it upon returning from their summer recess.
The Justice Department has so far opposed Maxwell’s Supreme Court appeal.
Markus’s latest comments mark his most direct suggestion yet of Trump intervening. Markus said Friday he hadn’t spoken to the president yet about a pardon and “we’re going to take one day at a time.”
Trump has punted on whether he would pardon Maxwell. Trump said Monday that “I’m allowed to give her” a pardon, but “nobody’s approached me.”
“I’m allowed to give her a pardon,” Trump insisted, repeating a claim he made on his way to Scotland on Friday. “Nobody has approached me with it or asked me about it. It’s in the news about that, that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday moved to toss out charges against former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), who resigned from Congress in 2022.
The request to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the same charges can’t be brought again, comes as President Trump’s Justice Department has moved to end criminal prosecutions of his political allies, including those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and Trump’s co-defendants in his federal classified documents case.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump celebrated the end of the DOJ’s “witch hunt” against Fortenberry and claimed he was the victim of a weaponized justice system.
“The charges were totally baseless,” Trump said. “That Scam is now over, so Jeff and his family can go back to having a great life together, and be a part of our Country’s future as we MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. I am very proud of our Department of Justice, something I have not been able to say for many years!”
The charges centered on statements Fortenberry gave to authorities as they investigated the $30,200 donation to the former congressman’s campaign at a 2016 fundraising event in California from Gilbert Chagoury, a Nigerian businessperson.
Federal election law prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions in support of any candidate for a federal elected office in the U.S.
That conviction was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2023, after it determined Fortenberry should have faced trial in Nebraska or Washington, D.C., instead.
Federal prosecutors brought the case again in Washington in May, and Fortenberry was awaiting a new trial when Trump won the presidential race.
Capitol police have arrested a Massachusetts man who allegedly traveled to Washington, D.C. armed with Molotov cocktails and a knife to kill newly-confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Ryan Michael “Reily” English, who turned himself in to U.S. Capitol Police at 3:12 p.m. ET Monday, said he traveled to Washington, D.C., initially planning to kill Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a police affidavit revealed.
By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Pete Hegseth, CC BY-SA 2.0
But English shifted his target to Bessent after stopping at a library in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and reading that the Senate was voting Monday on his nomination as President Donald Trump’s Treasury chief, the document said.
CNBC reported English contemplated throwing the Molotov cocktails at Bessent’s feet, according to the affidavit, which was filed in Washington, D.C., federal court. And if he were able to get close enough, English said, he would have stabbed Bessent with a knife.
Bessent’s nomination was confirmed about three hours after English’s arrest. President Trump’s Cabinet nominee received bipartisan backing and was confirmed Tuesday with a 77-22 vote.
English has been charged with unlawful receipt, possession or transfer of a firearm, as well as carrying a firearm, explosive or incendiary device on Capitol grounds.
The affidavit said English approached an officer at the south door of the Capitol and said, “I’d like to turn myself in.” English told the officer that he was carrying weapons, including two Molotov cocktails.
Two officers detained and searched English, finding two devices constructed of 50-milliliter vodka bottles with gray cloth affixed to their tops. They also found a folding knife and a lighter, according to the court documents.
He said he was at the Capitol to “kill Scott Bessent,” the affidavit said.
Police said they searched the vehicle and found a 750-milliliter bottle of 100-proof vodka and a gray sweatshirt with cloth cut off the sleeves.
Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Before transporting English into custody, police said they found a receipt in his pocket with a note written on the back of a receipt:
“Judith dear god I am so sorry. You must understand I can feel myself dying slowly b/c of my heart. This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters,” the note read, according to the affidavit.
“I love you. This is awful. Im so sorry. I love u. Please stay alive and heal. you can. you are strong enough. [F—] them for pushing us so far. you dont deserve this. Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying. Please survive [7 hearts],” it read.
In addition to his initial intention of killing Hegseth or Johnson, English told police he considered burning down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
English said that he surveilled the Capitol grounds and figured he would have to kill at least three police officers in order to get to Bessent. English “expressed acceptance and content with the possibility of suicide by cop,” the affidavit said.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
By The White House - https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/54426560683/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=163105965
Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of U.S. first lady Melania Trump.
The life-size sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melania Knavs was born in 1970. It replaced a wooden statue that had been set on fire earlier that year.
A new bronze statue of first lady Melania Trump was unveiled in Slovenia this week, after a wooden version of the memorial was burned in July. pic.twitter.com/0nVGXShV1E
According to Slovenian media reports, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed.
The original wooden statue was torched in July 2020. The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017.
Sculpture of Melania Trump in her Slovenian hometown. The life-sized statue depicts Trump in the blue outfit she wore to her husband's presidential inauguration in 2017 and shows her raising her left hand in a waving gesture. pic.twitter.com/myKRTh3FMK
A statue depicting Melania Trump was removed from where it stood near the first lady's hometown in Slovenia after after it was set on fire and badly scorched on the 4th of July. https://t.co/LeIdgRpNj2pic.twitter.com/dUY97SGHKB
Authorities are responding after multple Tesla’s were destroyed.
Police are investigating a fire involving several vehicles at a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas.
The fire was reported around 2:45 a.m. in the 6000 block of West Badura Avenue near Jones Boulevard and Warm Springs Road. Badura is closed to traffic.
“LVMPD Communications received information that an individual had set several vehicles on fire in the parking lot and caused damage to the property, according to police.
A California Tesla dealership was also vandalized early Monday.
Multiple cars were found with swastikas spray-painted on them, and several windows of the dealership building were spray-painted with swastikas and profanity.
The incident occurred around 5 a.m., the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release Monday. No suspects have been identified, and no arrests have been made.
The vandalism comes two days after a protest at the same Tesla dealership where community members rallied against federal funding cuts. Protesters could be seen holding signs with messages like “boycott Tesla” and “save Social Security.”
The string of vandalism come after Donald Trump said last week considering labeling the vandals as domestic terrorists.
The incidents come months after a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
A U.S. Army soldier drove the Cybertruck, which he rented from Turo, outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Monday morning. Upon arriving, the vehicle was detonated by explosives in the car.
Investigators found fireworks, gasoline canisters and camping fuel in the remains of the vehicle. The soldier was believed to have fatally shot himself shortly before the explosion.
On the day of the attack, Musk commented on X that the individual “picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack” because the “Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.”
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)
The House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said the panel will continue its investigation into Hunter Biden’s criminal activity in a Thursday interview with Politico.
“We think we need to look at David Weiss, the special counsel,” Jordan told the outlet.
“There will be some additional work we need to do, I think, there because when we deposed him, he wasn’t willing to — he didn’t answer any questions, really, because it was [an] ongoing investigation,” he added.
He criticized President Biden for pardoning his son ahead of his exit from the White House on all crimes committed in a 10-year period.
“I didn’t agree with it. I think a lot of Americans didn’t,” Jordan said.
But he added that “the president can pardon anyone he wants to pardon.”
Jordan’s committee launched a broad probe into Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden for alleged unethical business dealings which prompted their testimony before members of Congress last year.
An Iran-linked hacker group is claiming to be in possession of a trove of stolen emails from President Donald Trump’s inner circle is threatening to publish the material in what U.S. officials describe as a politically motivated “smear campaign.”
The group, operating under the alias “Robert,” said it has over 100 gigabytes of emails from key Trump allies, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, longtime confidant Roger Stone, Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, and even adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Reuters broke the story Tuesday after direct communication with the hackers, who hinted at potentially selling the material, though the group offered no specifics.
The threat comes just days after Trump abruptly reversed a tentative effort to ease sanctions on Iran, following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s downplaying of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. A top Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa against Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the pair “enemies of God.” (RELATED: Iranian Grand Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Targeting Trump)
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a leading Shiite cleric in Iran with authority to issue legal rulings under Islamic law, has issued a fatwa — an Islamic legal decree — escalating regional tensions and offering religious justification for violence against Western and Israeli leaders.
As Newsweek rightly notes, the development highlights the Islamic Republic’s ongoing use of religious decrees as political tools — a strategy Iran has long used to project power beyond its borders.
While a fatwa is not legally enforceable, it can influence judicial decisions in countries with Sharia-based legal systems.
Khosro K. Isfahani, senior research analyst at the National Union for Democracy in Iran wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the fatwa issued by Shirazi against Trump was similar to the murder fatwa issued against the author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses which led to a number of assassination attempts.
“This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda,” said Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) spokesperson Marci McCarthy. She described the effort as a “calculated smear campaign” designed to “damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants.”
— Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (@CISAgov) July 1, 2025
According to Mediaite, the hackers claim the breach was triggered by recent U.S. involvement in the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, a war Trump claimed credit for ending via a negotiated ceasefire. Despite claiming to have halted new attacks, the group says it resumed operations in response to that military intervention.
Federal prosecutors have already linked the hacker group to Iran.
